Matrimony
by Eel Nivek
Summary: He's a demon. She's an angel. Their marriage was doomed from the start. COMPLETE!
1. The Groom's Obsession

**Matrimony**

A/N: Sorry, had to get this one out of my system! Feedback is appreciated. I'm **_LeClas _**btw!

**Prologue**

"So we have a deal then?"

Tensions were stirring as an uneasy truce was settled between the two leaders.

"We have a deal."

The dark haired king nodded approvingly. "In one week's time, my son will marry your daughter."

"And you will withdraw your troops from my lands."

"Correct."

The fair haired king extended his arm anxiously. The dark haired king shook it eagerly and smiled.

It was all good business.

* * *

**Chapter 1: The Groom's Obsession  
**

He was drunk out of his mind.

The people in the club started fluctuating before his eyes and the club's neon lights seemed to get brighter and brighter by the minute. Noctis leaned back against a couch and poured himself another glass of wine, watching as reality distorted into fantasy.

There was no entertainment in his life. This routine of drinking until night and waking up drunk as hell was unpleasant, yet he never could stop. Whereas others viewed his obsession with alcohol as a serious problem, he viewed it as a minor dilemma that one must experience in order to develop character.

In other words, total bullshit.

He rubbed his temple and casted a simple healing spell to clear his head. _That felt good_. He counted the amount of glasses on table. It took about forty glasses before his head started to ache. Noctis waved the server over. How about going for forty-five?

Noctis held his glass in mid-air and closed his eyes. He smiled maliciously.

Trouble was coming.

As he predicted, the club door was kicked open and everyone watched as a group of men, donned in fine suits, walked in with smirks on their faces. Noctis counted thirty-two of them in total, each was armed with two 9mm pistols. A small mafia of lesser demons—goblins and incubi—he assumed. Though they had humanoid forms, he could see them for what they were.

Noctis shrugged. As long as they avoided him, he'd let them do as they pleased.

One of the mortal clubbers took offense when one of the suited men copped a feel on his female partner. The mortal man started spouting threats and insults before he was promptly silenced with a bullet to his head. The club grew silent and the onlookers turned away from the bloody corpse and continued doing what they were doing. Most of them left the building.

The girls sitting at both sides of him fled in terror.

As his server was bringing him his drink, he was intercepted.

A light skinned mafia member, who Noctis presumed was the leader, took the glass from the server and gulped it down.

"Hey," Noctis called after. "That was my drink."

The leader made his way over to Noctis and pulled out his gun. "What was that you little shit? Your drink, you say? This club belongs to me, everything is mine!"

"I said, you just took my drink," Noctis sat with a bemused expression, arms stretched out against the top of the couch. "You going to pay for it?"

"Listen here," The leader cocked back the barrel of the gun, as the rest of his mafia surrounded him. "Do you know who we are? No? We're half-demons, we eat little fucks like you for breakfast. We kill little prick ass pretty boys like you with our eyes closed!"

Noctis waved off his empty threats and laughed, "Only _half-_demons? No wonder you have to use those little peashooters. You're all too weak to fend for yourselves."

"Why you little..." One of the cronies spat out and clutched his finger against the trigger of his gun.

"I wouldn't do that," Noctis warned and snapped his fingers. In an instant, every single mafia member was surrounded by swords, each slightly piercing their necks, stomachs, and legs. "I'm in a fucking bad mood right now."

One of the lesser demons thought it would be wise to reach for his gun. His fellow members watched, scared out of their minds, as he was beheaded and disemboweled instantly.

"Oops," Noctis smiled and held up his hands. His smile turned into frown when he saw blood on his shoes. "Look what you guys did. I have blood on my shoes."

He looked at the grown men, now reduced to shriveling infants. He could smell their fear and he loved it.

Now to address the matter at hand. Noctis pointed at the leader, "You."

"M-me?"

"Yes you," Noctis growled, irritated and stuck his shoe out. "Lick it off."

"W-what?"

"Are you deaf? I said lick the blood off. My shoe won't clean on its own."

"Fuck you!" The leader screamed and made a sudden move, trying to retain some of his dignity. Noctis gave him a disappointed look. _What boring last words._ The dude was sliced into pieces before he knew what hit him.

"Next," Noctis called out. None of the men made a move. "No one? Guess you all gotta die."

"You think you scare us?" One of the more braver guys snarled shamelessly. "Kill us now, and our brothers won't stand for it. They'll find your family and kill them. They'll find your lover and rape her before your eyes! We're half-demons!"

"Bravo." Noctis clapped his hands in mock applause. "Now before you die, I want you to know just who exactly you were messing with."

He folded back the sleeves of his suit, and revealed a brand on his right arm. The whole room turned deathly silent. Fear pervaded the atmosphere as the half-demons realized who they had been dealing with.

"The Prince..." One of the demons choked skeptically. "One of the few pure-blooded demons in existence, a spawn of Lucifer."

"Yours truly," Noctis replied devilishly. "So you see, none of your threats work on me. Send me millions of your brothers if you want. I don't care. Maybe then you can all have a party in hell. Of course, I'll supply the booze."

Noctis finished his dialogue and slowly proceeded to kill the man who had the audacity to threaten him, running blades through his body, but avoiding vital organs, causing him excruciating pain before he died. Noctis examined the others. He could feel their fear, radiating in waves. He walked up to one of the smaller men, who was whimpering and sweating profusely.

"You scared?" He whispered and showed off his canines.

Trying to cover up his fear, the small man shook his head rapidly.

"Don't be," said Noctis. "It'll be over soon. You won't even feel a thing." Noctis flicked his wrist and his swords pierced the small man multiple times, drawing blood and leaving gaping holes. The man was dead before he hit the floor.

Noctis looked down at the corpse and smiled. "What'd I say?"

"What do you want from us? We'll do anything you want. Let us go, please!" One of the men pleaded, falling to his knees. He was impaled in the chest immediately.

"Don't beg," Noctis warned the other men. "I hate beggars."

The mafia members stood silent, pretending to be composed although they were scared shitless.

"You guys bore me," Noctis turned and walked up to the counter to talk to the club owner. Behind him, several bodies hit the floor.

"You made a mess," The bald-headed, fat club manager clucked his tongue, counting the number of dead bodies on his dance floor. _Thirty-two._

"Yeah, sorry about that," Noctis tossed the man two wads of bills. "Pay someone to clean it up and get something nice for your wife and kids while you're at it. There's more than enough money in those stacks."

The manager sighed. "Your father is worried about you. He's even asked me to ban your ass from my club."

"So?"

"What do mean, so?"

"Don't listen to him."

"I'm kicking you out of my club."

Noctis shrugged, and stretched his arms, ignoring the comment. He straightened out his suit and took out his phone to check the time. It was late.

He waved goodbye to the manager and walked out of the front door. Waiting for him in the parking lot was his chauffeur/friend, Ignis, who was looking extremely pissed. Noctis groaned. He was bound to get an earful today.

"Shit," He muttered. Maybe he could pretend he hadn't seen Ignis, and walk home instead. Honestly, that wasn't such a bad idea. He did a 90 degree turn and walked away from the luxury car. He started running when he heard the car engines rev up.

Noctis ran for about a minute, before he stopped. The drinks were starting to hit him. Holding his stomach and praying for dear life, he hurled all over a pretty rose bush, which wasn't so pretty or red anymore.

Ignis killed the car engine and ran over to his sick friend. "You idiot! You've been drinking haven't you?"

"Not now mom," Noctis rubbed his stomach and turned away from the tall figure. "Let's talk in a bit, I'm kind of bu—urgh—b-busy."

Once his stomach calmed, Noctis addressed his brown-haired friend. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Shut up," replied Ignis, who adjusted his glasses. "Get in the car."

Noctis obliged and took a seat in the back. He blew air onto the windows and drew stick figures on them. This was the only way he could zone out and ignore the lecture he was probably—no... most definitely—going to receive.

"Your father's nuts," Ignis stomped on the gas pedal.

"Tell me something I didn't know," Noctis sighed. So much for ignoring the lecture.

"No seriously. He's really frustrated with you, you know? This morning at the meeting, which you were supposed to be at, he announced that he was going to marry you off. The date's been set for a week from now."

"W-WHAT?" Noctis spouted, trying to list off reasons why he couldn't be married. "I'm going to kill my old man. Who does he expect me to marry anyways?"

"Now Noct, calm down. Breathe," Ignis coughed, knowing what was going to come. "He wants you to marry some Claire/Lightning girl."

"What the FUCK! There's no way in hell I'm marrying that bitch. That goody two shoes. ARGH! I'd rather be tortured on the Spanish Donkey than marry that bitch!" Noctis shouted, nearly shattering the glass windows.

He had never seen the Farron girl, but he had heard all about her, and needless to say, he found her to be extremely boring, and dumb. She was everything he couldn't stand; innocent, pure, but most of all, an angel. Literally, an angel.

Whereas he was a pure-blooded demon—one of an elect few—he might add, she was a pure-blooded angel, his exact opposite. Screw every philosopher in history, opposites did NOT attract.

"Let me out of the car."

"What for?"

"I have to puke."

Ignis leaned back against the driver's seat and sighed as the young prince stepped out. Contrary to his expectations, Noctis was taking this very well. Usually, when his friend was presented with bad news, someone died. Ignis cringed when he heard a loud string of profanities come from outside. Okay, maybe Noctis wasn't taking this too well.

"Ugh," Noctis rubbed his head. "This day just gets worse and worse."

"What are you going to do about the marriage?"

"I have two options," Noctis held up two fingers and slipped into the backseat.

"Which are?"

"Killing the bitch—I'm seriously considering this one, or killing my old man."

"Neither is wise or recommended, especially the last one," stated Ignis impatiently. He let car engine roar and sped off the highway.

"I don't care. I'm in a bad mood. Where does she live?"

"You're serious?" Ignis questioned.

"Yeah," Noctis scoffed. "Didn't I just say that I was seriously considering killing her?"

"Her family won't stand for it. They're the kings and queens of the angelic hierarchy. She's a princess."

"I could kill all of them without lifting a finger."

Ignis shook his head. "Oh Noct... You have so much to learn. Just shut up, we're almost home."

"I hate you. You're taking me to my old man aren't you?"

"Shut up," Ignis scowled lightly. "I have to, or I don't get paid."

"You dirty man," Noctis whispered, voice tinged with a slight tease. "You sold your soul for money."

Ignis rolled his eyes. "Don't get me started. I could write a book with all the shady things you've done. Should I list a few? Hm. How about all the women you've taken on first dates, building their hopes up, before promptly leaving once you've had your way with them?"

"They were good fucks, but boring as hell," Noctis stated impassively, resting his elbow against the window.

"You better fix your attitude, you're going to be a married man soon."

"Don't remind me," Noctis hissed murderously.

"Well we're here, so if you want to continue your bitching, do it in front of the king because I'm not listening anymore. Now get out of the car," Ignis unlocked the doors.

Noctis stretched once he was out of the vehicle and gave Ignis a puzzled look. "You're not coming?"

"I have to get back to my wife."

"See, you're no fun anymore. I blame the wife."

"Whatever," Ignis retorted one last time before driving away.

As soon as Ignis was out of sight, a whole platoon of guards came rushing out to secure him. Noctis let them place cuffs on his hands. Although he could have easily snapped them off and beat every one of the guards, he didn't. He reckoned he had caused his father enough stress for one lifetime.

He was escorted past his room and through a long, ornamented hallway until they reached the throne room.

Sitting on the grand throne was his father, who was looking older than usual with his untrimmed beard. His father didn't look pleased to see him.

"I refuse to marry anyone," said Noctis.

"So you've heard. You have no choice in the matter, however. The decision has been made," his father answered coldly. "The angels have agreed that the union between you and their princess is the only way to secure peace between the races."

"Are you serious? You're forcing me to marry one their bitches because of some obligation? A bit of peace? Do you honestly believe that a single marriage can rewrite the bloody history between angels and demons?"

"What else can I do?" His father shouted. "This is the only way to achieve peace. If a war broke out, both races would be razed to the ground. How many of my men will I lose because of your selfish incompetence?"

"The demon army has more soldiers than the angels have feathers on their wings." Noctis retorted, standing up to his full, grandiose height. "It should be them who beg at our feet. You know as much as I do that they don't stand chance against us. Why do you continue this bullshit? Tell them to fuck off, and go to hell."

His father remained silent.

"Or have you become soft?" Noctis insulted.

The king stood from his throne, walked over to his son and held him up by the collar. "You do not tell me what to do. You do not tell me who I am, understood?"

Noctis looked into his father's eyes. He looked into the eyes of the man he respected. Something had changed. If possible, it seemed his father had become wiser than he already was.

"You will be married to the Farron girl in a week. Do not bother to complain, or I will cut all of my ties from you and claim a different heir. It is your decision."

Noctis stood silent, knowing that his father would carry on with his threat. He was by no means dependent on his father. He had money of his own, but he couldn't bear giving up the throne to some stranger. It was, after all, his ambition to claim the throne.

"I'll treat her like trash, and enjoy every second doing so."

"Do as you please, but you are forbidden to break off the engagement and you will make sure she has provided you an heir," The king stated sternly.

"You're asking me to fuck her, too?"

"No, I'm _ordering_ you to," The king said, brushing dust off of his suit. "In order to validate the legitimacy of your union, the people want to see the product of your love. Never in history has a pure-blooded demon mated a pure-blooded angel. A child, created from such a union, would be a rarity."

"So I'm stuck with the girl and have to make sure she's provided me an heir?" Anger welled inside of Noctis. Just the thought of being physically attached to a woman made him want to break something.

"The sooner you accept it, the better."

"Yeah right," Noctis hissed. He turned away from his father disrespectfully, preparing to leave.

"Oh and son." His father stopped him in his tracks.

"What?" Noctis stood with his back to his father. His irritation was evident.

"Don't you dare kill her."

"What?" Noctis smiled darkly, and cracked his fingers. "You don't trust me?"

"I mean it."

"Whatever," Noctis spat, leaving the throne room.

Outside, in the hall, Noctis glared at the portraits of his ancestors and smashed one of them with his fist. Glass rained down and struck the floor with a loud crash.

He cursed loudly. His old man had played all the right cards. His father had trapped him into a corner with only two options, both shitty. He could screw his inheritance or get married and lose all his personal freedoms.

Noctis grabbed his hair in his fists, and clenched his teeth.

Fine, he thought. If he was going to suffer, he wasn't going to suffer alone.

He was going to drag that bitch angel to hell with him, one way or another.

** ღ ღ ღ**

A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, I'll continue and start working on the next chapter. Sorry for the character ooc-ness, just experimenting. _Review_!

Next chapter: **The Bride's Ordeal  
**


	2. The Bride's Ordeal

**Matrimony**

A/N: Hope you guys keep reading. Thanks to all my reviewers! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST! **Henrietta Skylink, Kingu, NocturnEtude, Selestic, sazooki, Lightis, Skye8055, .fantasia, m0echan-dh3NextSE'sCEO, Nightcrane Storm, YOUR NUMBER ONE FAN. XD, shadowheart, lightis fan, jasmine6653, Addicted-To-Tic-Tacs, CFarron, Lightning Caelum, Christie-Edge, TLockhart1, Lynn!**

**Chapter 2: The Bride's Ordeal**

She was beyond enraged.

They dared to take her sister from her. They _dared_.

A fury like no other boiled from within her. Her innocent, angel mask was off and now, her primal nature had taken over.

She dropped all pretense of being a sweet princess and chased after the people who had kidnapped her baby sister. Had the other angels seen her—the most upright, and pure lady of the angelic court—in such a rage, they would have dropped dead with shock. Her actions were most unfitting for a princess of her station, but hell, she didn't give a damn.

_Walking is too slow_, she thought,_ at this rate they'll escape_.

Without a second thought, she spread her arms and became encased in a hot, white light. As the light faded, her transformation ended. On the back of her shoulder blades were two pairs of angelic wings crafted from pure light.

She took to the skies in a ungodly fashion. Clouds parted as she flew at top speed. Cutting through strong winds, and cold breezes, she continued following the van that contained information about her baby sister's whereabouts. She swore if they did anything to her sister she would murder them, tear them to pieces.

A white van came into sight and was speeding down the highway, but it wasn't fast enough. She was a rapid blur; in seconds, she had gone from miles on their trail to inches.

Knowing that their escape was futile, the kidnappers stopped the van and pulled out their guns. All of the men aimed their weapons at her and fired, but their actions were hopeless. They couldn't hit her.

Lightning landed in the circle of men and spun quickly, stopping the first man from reaching his gun by delivering a hard kick to his ribs. He fell to the floor clutching his side in pain. His whole left ribcage had been shattered. And before the other two men could reach for their weapons, she knocked one of them out with a blow to the chin, and the other with three quick jabs to the neck.

Two of the others pointed their guns and shot at her, but she vanished. Consequently, the two men dropped to floor, having shot each other.

A larger man tried to grab her from the back, but screamed in agony when his arms were burned off by her wings.

The angel princess made quick work of the notorious criminals and then knelt in front of the demon with broken ribs

"A-agh... Shit," cursed the man. Today was not his day. If someone had told him he was going to be whooped by a small girl, he would have laughed, but he definitely wasn't laughing now. "You f-f-fuckin'... aah..."

Lightning grabbed him by the shirt and slammed him against the rocky ground, giving him a splitting headache both figuratively and literally. Now was not the time to be fooling around. "Where is she! Where have you taken her? Answer me you little prick!"

"What the fu—"

She punched him in face and dislocated his jaw. "Tell me now, I don't have time to waste on you!"

"O-okay!" The man coughed out blood. "She's at Satan's gate! It's a fight club for demons, not a place for pompous, _bitch_-angel princesses like you..."

Lightning drew her hand back and slapped him in the face.

"What the fuck was that for!" The man cringed and nursed his stinging face. "You damn bitch!"

"Where is it?"

"Downtown, you can't miss it. It's a huge event! All of the notorious drug lords, murderers, criminals, and even the mafia attend it. This year, the owner of Satan's gate says he has a surprise for the crowd. He's got live angels, and he's going to see how long they last against his fighters. I was going to go, but you just fucking paralyzed me. I hope they kill that bitch angel you're looking for! Fuck you!"

Lightning snarled and crushed the demon's windpipes. He flopped to the floor lifeless.

Panic and fear overwhelmed her. Her poor baby sister was sitting in a cage somewhere, scared and just minutes from fighting for her life. Serah wasn't a fighter. She was just a child, who would be slaughtered in the ring.

For God's sake, Serah was a princess! She should have been at her lessons right now! Lightning started to cry; tears poured out rapidly. Frustration was taking its toll on her.

A few hours ago, she had been making preparations for her upcoming wedding to an abhorred man, the Prince of demons. That alone had brought tears to her eyes. The added stress from Serah's kidnapping made her want to break down.

Speaking of the wedding, Lightning was not pleased. Her father had invited all of the citizens to her country to a gathering at the palace, which almost every single angel in existence attended. As it was unwise to refuse the offer of her father, the king.

Imagine her horror when her father proclaimed that she was going to be married to the prince of demons. She had been stupefied and from collective gasps of all the people, she could tell that they were too. Her father had cornered her, knowing that she would have vehemently rejected the idea had they been anywhere else. But with her people watching, she—the princess—couldn't do anything but agree to his demand.

Seconds after the announcement had been made, the crowd went ballistic. They demanded to know why their sweet princess was being forced into marriage to a murderer, the prince, the son of the hated demon king. Furious cries and angry remarks were fired from the crowd.

The king silenced them with his deep voice, telling them that it was in order for peace to be established. He told them that the demon army would withdraw and never make an attempt to conquer their lands again.

And that was the end to all of the protests.

However there was one big problem her father hadn't calculated.

Angels couldn't survive without the affections of their mates. Love fed them and filled them with energy and life. Once an angel found his or her soul mate, he or she required constant physical contact and couldn't tolerate a day without the presence of their mate.

The longest an angel could tolerate without being close to their mate was a week. Any longer would result in severe aches, and depression. Eventually an angel, at this state, would die.

Lightning knew for a fact that her marriage to the prince was going to result in her dying because she seriously doubted the demon prince harbored the emotion called _love _in his heart. Hell, she even doubted he had a heart.

But what could she do? She was the only candidate suitable to balance the prince's evil nature. The demon king believed that her pure, innocent nature would equalize his son's nasty one and eventually soften the prince's temperament.

Lightning thought this was impossible. To put it simply, as her younger sister had explained to her, the prince was like crap, and she was like ice cream. When mixed together, it was the ice cream that turned bad. Sure the crap becomes a little sweeter, but you get the idea.

Pushing her thoughts aside, the desperate princess knelt in front of the dead men and took a piece of clothing from each. She put on a hat to cover her hair and wore a large, black trench coat to conceal her elegant, white dress.

She officially looked like a member of the mob. None of the demons would suspect that she was the angel princess in disguise.

Lightning pressed onwards, walking until she was in downtown demon city, better known by its alias, Hell. Dark, imposing buildings filled all the streets. Had it not been for the flashing billboards and bright casino lights, she would have been utterly lost.

She felt so out of place. Demons of all sizes and shapes flooded the city. Women flaunted their natural gifts to willing men in exchange for money. The sight repulsed her; this place repulsed her. In her city, such acts would have been severely castigated.

One woman grabbed her arm and offered herself for a few Gil. Lightning brushed her off impatiently, to which the prostitute answered with a nasty curse.

As she moved deeper into the heart of downtown, the lights became brighter. She found herself surrounded by more and more night clubs. The crowd of demon was endless. Never in her life had she seen so many of them.

She looked at every sign, but found none hinting such a place called 'Satan's gate'. Lightning choked on another sob and covered her mouth. What if the man had fabricated the place, and lied to her? Oh god, what if she had been led astray?

It wasn't until she heard loud the cries of female voices and cheers of demon males that Lightning realized that Satan's gate did in fact exist.

Following the ruckus, she turned the corner and found exactly what she was looking for. Smack dead, in the heart of the city was a gigantic night club. Above the main entrance was an ostentatious sign with the words, 'Satan's gate' imprinted on it.

And the source of the commotion was a single being, a male, one that she had never seen before.

He exited a limo and proceeded to walk up the red carpet. As he did, all of the women present screamed in ecstasy. Lightning scoffed. There was nothing special about him... except for his sinfully good looks, and hair. _And physique_, Lightning added, mortified by her own thoughts. Never in her whole life had she been so physically turned on by a male.

A male who looked absolutely fine in his dress suit.

It was a shame none of the males of her race looked that edible. The angel princess quickly slapped herself for even thinking of such a shameful thought. The overwhelming demon presence was getting to her head. She reasoned that the atmosphere was diluting her thoughts.

She was saved from her shame by a voice projected on a loudspeaker.

"Ladies and Gentleman! Are you ready for the main event?" The voice roared. The crowd shouted their approval, stomping their feet against the stands. Even from outside the night club, Lightning could hear the cheers.

_No!_ Lightning gasped. All thoughts of the male left her head. _Serah!_

Shoving and pushing her way past the endless line of people_, _Lightning made a dead bolt for the entrance.

Two burly men were guarding the doors, and they did not look happy to see her forcing her way in. They blocked the doors and stopped her from going through.

"Going somewhere?" One of them asked. "I think you should get back to the end of the line..." He lifted his coat and flashed his guns. He smiled obnoxiously, revealing his pug-faced grin. "If you know what I mean..."

"I think you should let me in..." Lightning replied irritated. She quickly grabbed their heads, before they could react, and banged their heads together. They fell to the floor, limp and unconscious. "If you know what I mean..."

The people behind her, who had witnessed her display of strength, cheered happily. For them, the guards getting knocked out meant that they would be able to get into the club without having to show any passes.

Satan's gate was nothing like she had ever seen. The scene in front of her took her breath away. In the center of the club was a large circular ring surrounded by seats of endless people. There was even a top floor for the more prominent guests. Lightning spotted the male she had been fawning over in his own private seating area. By his stoic expression, she couldn't tell whether he was eager or bored to be here.

Voices were projected from the enormous speakers hanging from the ceilings.

"Please welcome your champion, King!" An announcer howled. The crowd responded by roaring. From the depths of a tunnel emerged a gigantic figure of a man with an imposing build. It was nearly impossible not to notice his bulging neck muscles, and biceps. His abs alone could have stabbed a person to death.

He was a monster. A demon monster.

_King! King! King! Kill!_ The crowd chanted. King lifted his arms and snarled. "Blood!" He would shout and the crowd would reply likewise. "Blood!"

"Tonight we have special challengers, provided by the owner of Satan's gate himself! Are you ready for this special event?" The announcer held his mic out to the audience.

"Yeah!" Came the loud responses.

"Kill the fucking angels!"

"Send those fuckers back home with their assholes bleeding!"

More and more obnoxious comments were fired from the sea of people. Lightning wanted to snap their necks.

"And nowwwww," the announcer rolled his tongue. "Presenting tonight's first challengers. We have a trio of angels!"

From the tunnel, opposite of the one that King had emerged from, three teenage boys slowly walked out with their heads down. They were frightened and wanted to be anywhere, but here. The snickers and taunts that came from the crowd were scaring them.

One boy tried to run away, but was pushed back into ring by a guard.

King crouched low, ready to pounce and flashed his teeth. The three boys scattered around the ring, trying to escape his range. Their scrawny, boy builds were pathetic compared to King's beastly one. It wasn't going to be a fair match; it was going to be a massacre.

"Match begin!" The words were out and the boys panicked.

Somewhere deep in her heart, Lightning was horrified for the boys, but also glad that it wasn't her Serah up there in the ring, facing that monster of a man. As she watched King snap their bones without remorse, she thanked God that Serah wasn't the victim.

The boys did put a valiant fight, but they were way out their leagues. King destroyed them, tossing them around and bloodying their faces. What was worse was that the crowd enjoyed every moment of the brutality. Every sickening crunch was accompanied by loud cheers.

The match was heart-wrenching for the princess to watch. After all, the boys were angels. The results were terrible. By the end of the match, the three boys had been disfigured to point that they were unbearable to look at, even unrecognizable.

When King knocked out the last angel, something inside of her snapped.

She felt like the good, little angel inside of her had vacated her body, and had become replaced with a blood-thirsty killer, a demon. She wanted blood. King's blood. She trudged down the narrow aisle until she came to the ring. All eyes immediately focused on her.

"Ladies and gentleman!" The announcer called out, examining the man in the large trench coat. "I think we have a new challenger!"

"Look 'ere it's a littl' fuck!" King taunted in his natural accent. "I'm goin' ta rip you to pieces, shorty!"

Lightning ignored King's death threats and climbed into the ring. She knelt next to injured boys. Placing a hand on their heads, one at a time, she healed them completely, using powers that only she had. Their innocent faces were back to normal, not a single dis-figuration remained.

Now the only matter left at hand was for her to kill this sick fuck.

She held out her hand and motioned for King to come at her. He did not disappoint. He rushed at her with speeds impossible for a man of his stature to obtain. Only when she was slammed to the ground did the angel princess realize how serious the situation was.

Her head did flips when it banged against the rough padding of the ring, but she managed to rebound onto her feet immediately.

King didn't relent. He quickly snatched her foot with his hand and threw her against a metal pole. The impact hurt like a bitch. Surprisingly, her hat had managed to stay on during the whole exchange of blows.

The man was truly a monster. Lightning didn't even have time to recover as she was tossed to different corners of the ring, like a rag-doll. The situation looked terrible for the princess; however, King was letting his arrogance get the better of him.

Lightning bounced away from King. Her speed gave her an enormous advantage. King was too clumsy, and she used every opportunity to punish him for it. When his guard came down, she went in for kills.

She smashed every tooth in his mouth with a kick and swooped him off his feet with her leg. As he lay against the floor, Lightning straddled him and began to brutally re-arrange his face. A fitting punishment, she believed, for a man such as him. Blood seeped out of every pore in King's face as the angel-gone-demon proceeded to kill the man.

King, who should have been dead, managed to let out a maniacal laugh despite being beaten to a bloody pulp. He caught one of her wrists, and smiled. Then he struck her in the stomach with as much force as he could muster.

Lightning rolled away, clutching her stomach and gasped for air. Hell, she had never been hit so hard. Usually, her angelic powers protected her from harm, but they were useless in a situation like this one.

King slowly rose to his feet, and Lightning could do nothing but watch the man approach her with heavy and loud footsteps. He drew back his leg and kicked her hard. Lightning tumbled to a corner, and made a horrifying discovery.

_Her hat was off_.

Her hair was freed from its binding and exposed for all to see.

Many of the people in the crowd recognized her immediately. Though some had their doubts, even demons knew that the only person with hair like hers was the angel princess, better known to them as their prince's fiancé.

King didn't seem to care. He continued thrashing her relentlessly.

"Stop," a cold voice commanded. King froze on the spot; fear was etched across his face.

"Do you know who you just hit?" The man barked.

King nodded.

The man reacted angrily and crushed the bigger man's leg with his knee. King howled in pain and dropped to floor.

"I'm the only fucking person who gets to touch her, understood?" the none to gentle voice snarled at King. Although the words were spoken to King, the man had directed them to the whole crowd. "Get the fuck out of here!"

The big man limped off of the ring with his head low.

The person bent low, until his gaze met hers. Lightning couldn't believe her eyes. Staring at her was the man who had caused all of the commotion earlier. What frightened her more, was the fact that as soon as she made eye contact him, she knew who he was.

He was her fiancé, the prince.

"I'm glad I found you here," he whispered. He seemed to be shaking.

_Glad?_ Lightning thought, maybe he did harbor some feelings for her after all. Warmth filled her at that realization.

"You've made it so much easier for me," Noctis took his hands out his pockets and laughed. "You've saved me the trouble of having to find you. My father said I couldn't kill you while we were married, but he never said I couldn't _kill _you before the marriage."

Before she could utter a protest, Noctis drew back his fist.

What happened next, only God knows, but Lightning found herself clutching her right cheek.

Heavens forbid, the bastard had punched her.

And she was _not_ happy.

** ღ ღ ღ**

A/N: Hope you liked this chapter!


	3. Soul Mates

**Matrimony **

A/N: Thanks to all my reviewers for all of your support! I wouldn't be able to come up with ideas without you guys. **Addicted-To-Tic-Tacs, Lynn, CFarron, Kingu, Abbyda, shadow heart, lightis fan, cool kid 101, Team lightis, Selestic, LightC, .fantasia, YOUR NUMBER ONE FAN, jasmine6653, BlazeFireSaber, TLockhart1, FarronCaelum, you fan, Lightning Caelum, Cissa, Cam277, SparklesANuna1990, NocturnalSky, yonomi, Hakurama, Silver-Memorykeeper, milk, Kamikazeramen, MelodiusNocturn, Skye8055, , snowlily!**

**Chapter 3: Soul Mates**

Her face hit the mat. She felt as if a burning pot had punched her in the face.

Lightning gasped, flabbergasted by what had just happened. That son of a bitch had hit her! He had really hit her! Oh, it was on now. Lightning crouched low, and poised herself to tackle the prince, when all of a sudden, he staggered backward.

He looked like he was in a lot of pain, and he was.

_What the fuck?_ Noctis cursed, trying to blot out the pain from his mind. As soon as he hit his fiancé, he felt something slap him in the face, exactly where he had hit the princess. The pain was so unexpected that he stumbled to the floor.

Unwanted tears trickled down his burning right eye. He felt so disgraced, having all eyes see him traipse around the ring like some dumb fool.

But seriously. What the fuck had just happened? The angel princess was as shocked as he was, so there was no way she could have hit him, and nobody was even near him when he had been hit. His mind quickly processed all of the possible scenarios, but none were practical or believable.

Noctis pressed his hand against his swollen cheek and hissed. The pain was unbearable.

He was so fixated upon his injury that he didn't notice the angel stand up, hell-bent on getting revenge.

Lightning took advantage of the prince's confusion, and decided it was time to show him that she wasn't some pushover angel. If they were going to married, he was going to learn that she didn't take shit from anyone.

With speeds only an angel could achieve, she came face to face with the prince, and slapped him as hard she could. Too make it worse, she had slapped him on his bruise, which caused the wound to darken considerably.

What she didn't expect, however, was getting slapped back.

Lightning, once again, fell on her back, the force from the blow knocking her down. How in the world did the prince react so quickly? _Wait_, she thought. That was the thing, he didn't react. He was in too much pain to be moving, let alone hitting her.

And so the question was. Who hit her?

"Shit, fuck!" Noctis howled. His right eye was swollen shut. "What the fuck did you do to me?"

"Shut up!" Lightning growled, having her own problems to deal with. "I didn't do anything. You're the prick who punched me! It's only normal that I... uh, punch you back. Even though I didn't. You deserve what you got!"

"Bitch."

"Irritating ass!"

"Oh good one your holy highness," Noctis replied dryly. "Is that the best insult you can come up with?"

Lightning clenched her teeth. "Y-you fu—" As much as she wanted to, she couldn't say it. Such words were beneath a lady of her station.

"You what?" Noctis smiled, urging her on. He could sense her struggle. Her emotions were currently in conflict with her morals. She knew she wanted to curse him to hell, but couldn't because of her righteous upbringing, a problem which he would definitely correct in due time. "Say it, you know you want to."

"Your face is repulsive," Lightning bit back. "I can't believe I have to marry a man of your caliber. I could do so much better."

That hit a nerve. Noctis's lips curled into a nasty snarl as the weight of her words hit him. A man of his caliber? Thought she could do better, did she? Who did she think she was? He was the prince of demons for fuck's sake! Women worshiped him, worshiped the ground he walked on, killed to be in his presence and this bitch angel, his wife to be, thought otherwise? Was she perched up so high on her holy throne that she believed she was better than him?

His iris's turned blood red, indicating that he was losing his temper. The tips of his canines grew longer and sharper. The demon inside of him was begging for release. An unknown emotion was building up within him, screaming at him to show the princess who was alpha.

And then it hit him! He couldn't believe it. For fuck's sake, he was turned on by her words! A demonic desire to punish her sexually rose within him and threatened to make him act foolishly. Never in his life had he felt this way, and needless to say, it felt terrific.

In a sudden movement, Noctis hefted the light princess over his shoulder, clasping one hand on her round derriere, and another on her back. Despite the princess's vehement protests and string of puny profanities, he continued walking away from the ring. With the crowd roaring their approval, Noctis decided it was time for his princess to learn exactly why women fawned over him.

"Let me go!" Lightning screamed, pounding her fists against her fiancé's hard backside. Her efforts were futile. All her fists did was turn on the deluded prince even more. She kneed him in the chest, but her leg just bounced off his solid chest harmlessly. "Where are you taking me?"

"Stop moving around," Noctis warned as he entered a dark tunnel, one which led to his private club room.

"I'm going to kill you," Lightning threatened, though she knew her words would have no effect. "I swear, I'm going to rip your balls off, and shove them down your thro—"

SLAP!

The angel princess's eyes grew as wide as saucers. Her mouth opened and closed rapidly, unable to process what words to say. _He did not just do that_, she told herself, but the pain in her rear-end told her otherwise.

"Why you fucking prick!" Lightning cursed, dropping all etiquette. She struggled to free herself even harder, but the prince kept her in his iron grasp.

"Stop squirming," Noctis ordered, ignoring the stinging in his own rear-end. "Or it'll be your bare ass next time."

Lightning only stopped because she knew he was dead serious.

"That's a good girl," Noctis smiled. "The sooner you accept it, the better."

"Accept what? The fact that you're a homosexual?"

Noctis brushed off her lame remark. "No you stupid woman. The fact that we're soul mates."

Lightning laughed. "And here I thought you didn't have a sense of humor." Her laughter receded into a hesitant chuckle when she noticed the prince's indifference. "Are you serious?"

"It would explain why I can't punch you without getting a fucking black eye," Noctis answered, crossing a doorway and entering a hallway. "Or why you can't slap me without getting slapped yourself. Face it princess you're mine and I'm yours. Don't give me that look, you think I like this? I'm stuck with you for fuck's sake, a goody-two shoes angel bitch who wouldn't know an evil deed if it kicked you in the face."

"Well you're not much of a prize, either!" Lightning rolled her eyes. As much as she wanted to deny everything he had said, she couldn't. Her burning cheek was proof. When she had slapped him, she felt as if she had been slapped herself. She had heard of such symptoms. It was part of a syndrome called, 'turn table' that only occurred between soul mates to prevent one from harming the other.

Noctis growled, irritated by the princess's obliviousness to his god-damn beautiful physique.

"I hear that once angels receive love from their mates, they can't go a day without continuing to receive love from their significant other," said Noctis, a brilliant plan forming in his mind. "Shall we test this theory?"

Lightning gasped, realizing what he was intending to do. "Get away from me! Let go of me you evil son of a bitch! No!"

"It's bound to happen, why prolong it until our wedding night?" Noctis grinned sinisterly, and tossed the princess onto a couch in his room. He quickly trapped her against the couch with his body and nipped at her ear.

"Stop," Lightning pleaded, voice straining. She didn't want it to happen like this.

She felt Noctis's hands reach for the straps of her small dress. _NO! _Without any hesitation, she unfolded her wings, illuminating the dark room and blinding the prince. She pushed him off of her and backed away into one of the corners.

"Don't come near me," Lightning warned. "Or God so help me, I will de-jewel you."

Noctis rubbed his eyes, and laughed. So the princess thought she had the upper hand now did she? He stalked forward dangerously.

"I-I m-mean it!" Lightning stuttered.

"We both know you won't do anything."

"I will!"

"Then do it."

She did.

The prince totally underestimated the princess and paid for it.

Lightning aimed an amazing kick to his privates and beamed happily when she got the desired effects. Noctis, on the hand, was in another world. A world of pain. Breath rushed out of his lungs, and the prince found himself choking for air. His stomach felt as if it had expanded to the size of a bowling ball.

"U-ugh." Noctis moaned with one hand on his stomach, and the other between his legs.

"Serves you right," Lightning kicked him again for good measure, and walked out of the room.

Seeming as she wasn't being followed, Lightning assumed that she had really done a number on her fiancé. She bolted through the corridors, not wanting another encounter with the prince or any of his kind. All that was left to do was find Serah and take her far, far away from this wretched place.

She came to a dark, suspicious hallway, and opened the far right door. Smack center of the room was her baby sister trapped between iron cages.

"Serah!" She cried out.

"L-Lightning!" Came the shaky response. "Thank God you're here! I was so s-scared."

Lightning rushed up to the cage and pulled on the lock. "Hold on baby, I'll get you out of there." She ignored the fact that she sounded like a mother trying to save her daughter.

Channeling energy to her hand, she melted the lock and freed her sister. Once freed, Serah embraced her older sister while crying tears of joy.

"We have to get out of here," Lightning whispered. "Wait! Someone's coming! Shh..."

The sisters leaned against the walls, and waited for the person to enter. The door swung open. Without even a speck of hesitation, Lightning appeared in front of the figure and kicked him in the balls. The figure dropped to the floor, clutching his privates.

Lightning and Serah jumped over the blond-haired man, and made their way out of the night club.

Once outside, the two angels spread their wings and took to the skies.

"Serah!" Lightning shouted against the strong winds.

"Hmm?"

"You were right!"

Serah gave her sister a confused look.

"We don't mix, me and the prince. I'm telling father there's no way in hell I'm going to marry him!"

"Do you think papa will agree?" Serah questioned doubtfully.

"Of course."

She couldn't have been more wrong.

** ღ ღ ღ**

_"Do you Lightning Eclair Farron take Noctis Lucis Caelum as your lawful husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish until death do you part?"_

"Yes. I do," Lightning muttered, looking absolutely lovely and miserable at the same time. The damn air in the cathedral was just too cold, and it didn't help that thousands of angels and demons had gathered to see her union with the demon prince.

_"Do you Noctis Lucis Caelum take Lightning Eclair Farron as your lawful wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish until death do you part?"_

The prince glanced at the priest before looking at his fiancé. He wondered how the hell he always got himself into these sort of situations? The marriage altar was the last thing he wanted to be standing on, yet here he was.

Ignoring the old priest, he snickered. The dark bruise on his fiancé's cheek stuck out like a nasty sore and contrasted very well with her light skin, allowing everyone to see it. Even blind men would notice it from miles away. Not even her angelic healing spells had been able to remove it, he had made sure of that.

A minute passed by and Noctis continued to peruse his angel princess with his eyes. She was looking anywhere but at him, obviously uncomfortable under his close scrutiny and from the events that had transpired recently. So far, throughout the marriage ceremony, she hadn't once indulged him in a staring contest.

Such a pity, Noctis sighed. He didn't mind looking at those petite, crystal eyes of hers. Neither did he mind staring at her mouth-watering cleavage. Her slim, white dress was not leaving any room for his imagination. He groaned silently as her chest heaved up and down in a steady rhythm. _If only I could hold them in my hands..._

He could see her nipples, hard and erect from the cold air, through the thin fabric of her dress. It was such a lovely sight, he mused. Well, it would have been a lovely sight had they been anyone's but hers.

Lightning blushed scarlet, feeling his snake-like eyes burning holes through her chest.

Noctis smiled. So the little princess was unnerved by his examination of her body? She was attempting to conceal her embarrassment by trying to free her hands from his in order to cover herself up. Sadly for her, he ignored her silent demands to let go.

"Prince." The priest called out once more.

"What?" Noctis snapped angrily.

Taken aback and frightened, the old priest cautiously repeated his monologue.

"I do," Noctis replied, and with those words, the deal was settled. There was no going back, he thought. From this day on, he was a married man.

A sudden stinging on his face brought him out of his thoughts. He brushed his fingers over his cheek and scowled, an action which greatly amused his bitch fiancé. On his right cheek was a nasty blue bruise similar to the one his fiancé sported.

Such a thing was unfitting for someone so beautiful and perfect as he, but it seemed the fates were really cruel pieces of shits. The thought of having his perfect complexion marred by something so disgraceful infuriated him to no ends.

The angel princess wasn't making it any better. She was smiling happily as if she derived pleasure from his pain. The words, _'payback's a bitch'_ were clearly written on her face.

His scowl intensified. _Angel my ass. _The only things angelic about this bitch were her looks. He swore if she purposely parted her luscious lips one more time he would take her right then and there, even if there were a thousand people watching. He'd shred her scanty dress to pieces then press her up against the altar and give her the fuck of her life. That would definitely make her regret the day she teased him.

And as repulsive as fucking an angel sounded to him, he had no choice in the matter. Her being his soul mate and him being hers made it impossible for both of them not to desire each other physically. His groin burned irritably, urging him to take the female before him. He shift his weight from foot to foot to relieve some of the aching, but even that didn't prevent his mind from desiring his mate.

Currently, the princess knew about the conflict raging inside of him and was exploiting his weakness, and wielding it against him. She was enjoying every second of it, too.

Noctis groaned again when he saw her lick her lips. _Just wait until tonight,_ he thought ominously, suppressing another groan. He was going to make sure she learned her lesson. Oh yes, after tonight, she'd kiss walking for the rest of this month good-bye.

In fact, when he was through with her, she wouldn't be able to move at all.

After tonight, she'd be carrying all of his heirs. _All twenty of them, _he smiled pleasantly.

On the other side of the spectrum, Lightning was glaring daggers at her husband—if she could legitimately call him that. An air-headed, idiot prince was a more suitable term. After all, for her husband it seemed the words, 'love at first sight' translated to 'punch at first sight'.

The bruise on her cheek was agitating. Every time she flexed her jaw or tried to yawn, a painful shock would jolt through her body.

Lightning stared at her husband's bruise and grimaced. His black, and blue swollen cheek did not compliment him at all. Although her husband was the one who had given her, her bruise, Lightning couldn't help but feel sympathetic for him. She guessed it was just the angel in her.

"You may kiss the bride."

_You may kiss the bride._ Lightning couldn't believe she was hearing those words. Her surroundings faded to nothing when her husband leaned down to kiss her. Oh God, she had never been kissed before. What was she supposed to do?

Before her husband's lips could meet hers, Lightning moved her face out of the way and planted a small kiss on his cheek. On his bruise.

Satisfied, Lightning gave the priest a look that told him to continue whatever nonsense he had left for them.

Noctis, however, was very _un_-satisfied. Ignoring her weak protests, he grabbed her cheeks and kissed her like she should have been kissed on her wedding day. Lightning's knees buckled as a sensation unlike any other rushed through her head. Her husband kissed her aggressively, leaving her gasping for air.

He didn't stop there. He grabbed a fistful of her hair and held her closer to him—if that was even possible. Cat calls and wolf whistles erupted from the crowd of demons. The angels, on the other, looked appalled and horrified.

Lightning slapped Noctis on chest, indicating that she would be dead in the next few seconds due to the lack of oxygen. Her lungs cried out happily when her husband released her and drew his head back.

He looked quite happy and satisfied.

The organs blared a depressing tune, and signaled the end of the wedding ceremony. All of the guests stood and cheered for the married couple before leaving for the wedding reception.

Only when the wedding guests left the alter did Noctis make his intentions known.

Lightning shivered violently when her husband stroked her cheek and played with her hair. A sinister smile was on his face.

"Congratulations Mrs. Caelum," he hissed into her ear. "Do be careful. I would _hate _to have to replace a fragile, little creature such as yourself. Don't think for a second that you have an ounce of my sympathy. You are my wife, nothing more. You _will _live in my castle, and obey all of my commands. Let me get this message across—you _are_ not dear to me, and most importantly you _are_ replaceable. Oh and if you don't mind, I don't have a honeymoon planned. See you at our wedding reception, _sweetheart_."

With those words, he turned and left the marriage altar, walking to the procession hall where the guests were eating and dancing to their hearts' contents.

Watching her husband's retreating figure, Lightning buckled and slumped to the floor. Her knees were weak and her legs wouldn't strop trembling. Her husband's words hit home. They were so full of malice that she could literally feel his hate and anger.

For the first time, Lightning saw Noctis for the man he was. Not the sarcastic, young prince, but the cold-blooded murderer that he was rumored to be. Had they not been soul mates, her husband could have killed her at any time he wanted to.

Lightning realized the sad truth to her marriage. She would always love her husband, no matter how evil or cruel he was; it was her nature as an angel, but her husband would never, for a second, harbor an ounce of love for her.

She was strong, but he was stronger. It was the law of nature; demons were physically stronger than angels.

Her husband would use her body as a womb for his children, and leave her care-taking to others while he frolicked with all the women he had worshiping him.

Never again would he bat an eye in her direction, or would he talk and converse with her.

She was just a tool, a means to an end and the reality of situation scared her.

_What's this?_ Lightning thought as she wiped a tear that trickled down her cheek. Soon the tears came pouring in such numbers that she couldn't wipe them all away. Her makeup was smeared against her cheeks. _Why is my heart aching?_

Her tears were making a pitiful puddle on the cold wedding altar.

Lightning put a hand on her heart to ease the pain she felt. She finally understood why it hurt so much.

It hurt because she was in love with her husband.

She loved the man who despised her.

** ღ ღ ღ**


	4. Prompto

**Matrimony**

A/N: OMFG, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE you guys and girls that read this story! I love all the support and kind criticisms you give me! HOLY CRAP the list of reviewers has grown since chapter one. You guys are so effin amazing. Ugh, it hurts to be in your guys's presences. I'm honored to write for you all! YOU ALL GET COOKIES! **snowlily, Lynn, Claire2696, Cam277, D, CFarron, Lightning Caelum, SparklesANuna96, MelodiusNocturn, Silver-MemoryKeeper, shadow heart, COOL KID 101, Z Mini-Licious, Kamikazeramen, BlazeFireSaber, jasmine6653, TLockhart1, Addicted-To-Tic-Tacs, Henrietta Skylink, , FarronCaelum, nisu-chan25, YOUR NUMBER ONE FAN, Kingu, Anonymous, Terradu27, quasi una fantasia, Yuki Minamoto, milk, Skye8055, yonomi, My Loveless Melody, Oblivion Star Seeker.**

**Chapter 4: Prompto**

"Ugh," Lightning moaned. Her hair was sprawled against her pillow, and she lay in the middle of an over-sized bed**. **The room was pitch-black, not because the sun wasn't up, but because the walls were painted an ugly black color. Everything in her new room was black._ It figures_, she thought. Demons had an affinity for the color.

One week had passed since she stood at the altar and exchanged vows of love with her husband. Every night after, she had cried herself to sleep. Her husband had made it clear that he didn't want to be in her presence.

Their separation was proof. Currently, she resided in a room in the East wing of the palace while he resided in the West wing. She hadn't seen him since the wedding reception. The only people she interacted with were the servants, who muttered insults at her under their breaths.

She hated this place. It was a prison. The demon guards refused to let her set foot outside, no matter how hard she pleaded... and punched.

To make things worse, the longing and desire for her husband intensified every day she was apart from him. At this point, the ache was barely tolerable. It was like a throbbing heart burn that lasted forever. Lightning knew if she didn't act quickly she would mentally deteriorate.

Her thoughts drifted to her wedding night and how uneventful it was. Her husband had tried to take her against her will, overpowering her. However, their being soul mates didn't not allow him to take her without her consent. Frustrated, he kicked the covers off of the bed and slammed the door shut on his way out. She hadn't seen him since then, and only God knows what he did and was doing.

Just thinking about that horrible night brought tears to her eyes.

She had thought his cruelty could extend no longer than the words he spoke to her at the altar, but clearly she had been mistaken.

Suddenly, she felt an impulse to break things. Maybe if she acted rash, she would regain her husband's attention. She grabbed one of the ornate vases and flung against the wall. It shattered with a loud crash and alerted the whole household.

Servants were immediately at her door, asking if there was anything wrong.

She told them nothing was wrong and smashed another vase. She continued devastating her horrible bedroom, not even the wardrobe was spared. Using her angelic strength, she lifted the wooden wardrobe and chucked it across the room where it collided with the wall and rained down in splinters.

The door to her room flew open, and surprised gasps burst from the household servants and maids.

"Princess!" One of them cried out. "Please put the table down!"

Lightning held a steel table up in one hand and waved it around menacingly. "Give me one reason why I should."

"The prince will be angry!" A stupid, young servant girl replied.

Wrong answer.

The servants screamed and disappeared behind the entrance of the door. Had they kept standing in the doorway, they would have been crushed to bits by the heavy table.

"Call the guards, the princess has gone mad!" shrieked one of the older maids.

Five guards, tall and imposing, came charging into her room, shields up and ready to fend off her attack. Lightning balled her fists at her side and glared at the men, who were sweating nervously. They knew that they couldn't stop her if she decided to seriously wreck things. Past experience proved that much.

"Now princess..." The captain of the demon guard held out his hands to somehow channel positive thoughts into his princess. "Let's not do anything rash now, shall we? Is there anything you would like for me to do for you?"

"I want my husband, here." Lightning demanded coldly.

"P-princess." The captain sweated. "The p-prince is in another country settling diplomatic matters."

"You're lying," Lightning darkened visibly. "I can feel him close. He's still in this country. Where is he?"

"Shit," muttered the captain under his breath. He hadn't expected the princess to see through his lie. "The prince is not available at the moment."

"Not available? What kind of bull—" Lightning inhaled before releasing her frustration. "I AM HIS WIFE! I don't need an appointment to see him! I want him here, NOW! God so help me, I swear I will break everything in this room."

"To be honest with you princess," A servant girl interrupted. "No one knows where the prince is."

Lightning sensed that the girl wasn't lying and stopped her tirade.

"M-m-may I m-make a suggestion, princess?"

Lightning folded her arms across her chest and nodded.

"Maybe you should ask one of the young master's friends. Master Ignis or Master Prompto perhaps."

"Where might I find these two?"

"Master Ignis doesn't reside in the palace anymore. He moved to his own castle when he wed the prince's blood relative, Lady Fleuret. However, Master Prompto lives in the West wing, close to the prince's quarters. Perhaps it would be wise to consult him?" The captain suggested.

"Right," Lightning answered. She was bothered by the way the guards were still fidgeting as if she would make a move at any second. "Please don't be alarmed. I promise not to do anything. I just... I just want to know where my husband is."

For a brief second, genuine concern flashed across the guard captain's face. "I'm sure you'll find him."

Lightning pushed passed the maids and guards, who let her go, and walked for about a mile before reaching the West wing—that's how big the palace was. The West wing was similar to the East wing in many respects. For one, the walls were painted black, and so were the floor tiles.

The hallway lights were dim and quiet. The corridors resembled ones in horror movies.

And then she heard it. A sound so appalling and horrendous that it blew her mind out of the stratosphere.

_"Ooooh baby... Y-yess! F-fuck me."_

_"Bend over sweetheart."  
_

The sound of lovemaking rang in her ears and blotted out any focus she had. All she could think of was that her virgin ears had been soiled.

To make things worse, the shameful noises were coming from her husband's room.

Nasty conclusions started to form in her head.

Did her husband find her so repulsive that he would rather resort to using whores than laying with her, his wife? Did he really loath her so much? _But you refused him, it's only natural for a demon like him to look for other sources of pleasure, _a voice in her mind taunted. _Shut up,_ she told herself.

Lightning didn't know whether she was clenching her fists in anger or shock. She was just that disoriented. Immediately regaining her posture, she kicked open the door. The sight that greeted her was totally different from what she was expecting.

Sprawled on top of what she _hoped _was a woman was a half-naked, blond-haired man. Relief washed over her instantly. She was thankful that it was not her husband she had caught in such a horrible act.

_Wait a minute,_ Lightning thought. Why in the world were there two people having sex in her husband's room?

The blond-haired man, who she assumed was Prompto, turned at the sudden intrusion and snarled angrily before he could see just exactly who had burst in on them. "What the fuck! Who the hell do you fucking think you are? I ought to fucking kill... Oh... Shit..."

"Princess," Prompto bounced off of the bed, leaving his partner lying there. The woman looked absolutely drained and elated.

Lightning was much aware of Prompto's rock hard abs as he strode toward her half-naked. She tried not to look at his stomach muscles, and decided to lower her head. A mistake on her part.

Her eyes immediately noticed a gigantic bulge in his pant. Mortified, Lightning blushed and closed her eyes, trying to erase the sight from her mind, but the damage was done. Now her virgin eyes were soiled as well.

Prompto smiled at his princess's discomfort, and decided to tease her a bit. He came inches close to her so that he was literally breathing in her face. Grasping her wrist, he guided her fingers over his chest and stomach.

Lightning tried to protest, but her efforts were in vain. She was interested and curious as well. _So this is how it feels..._

"You're a cute little thing," Prompto teased by poking her nose like a master does to his or her puppy. "Noctis is a lucky bastard isn't he? Having you all for himself... Imagine the things I could do with a woman so... well endowed such as yourself."

_Oh God_, Lightning sighed in pleasure, unable to resist Prompto's charms. He had quite the silver tongue unlike her husband.

_Her husband._ Her husband! "Where's Noctis?"

"Ah-Ah-Ah!" Prompto shook his head and moved his index finger left to right. "If I tell you, you have to give me something in return."

"Sounds fair," Lightning replied.

"Kiss me," Prompto ordered sternly. "But not like you kissed Noctis. That was pathetic."

"W-what?" Lightning turned red once more. The notion was absolutely absurd to her. "Are you an idiot?"

"No, but time is _a-ticking_ and Noctis is_ a-fucking_ other women. What's it going to be princess?"

Lightning thought hard and weighed the options. If she let Prompto kiss her, she'd be unfaithful to her husband, but if she didn't let Prompto kiss her, her husband would be doing things unfaithful to her.

"Okay," she whispered as if somebody was eavesdropping on their conversation. "Let's get this over with."

She closed her eyes and pursed her lips, but nothing came. All she heard was laughter.

"Ahahahahaha!" Prompto burst into tears. "You honestly thought I was going to kiss you? Oh God, you're as innocent as they say you are. Let me teach you something, princess. Demons are very, very possessive creatures. I might be Noctis's best friend, hell even his only friend. Well not including Ignis, screw Ignis. He's gay... Except he married Stella... Well I digress. I might be Noctis's best friend, but he'd kill me in a heartbeat if I shared an intimate moment with you. It's demon nature. I would do the same thing if someone tried to touch my mate."

"That's a quite a mouthful."

"That's what she said," Prompto grinned. "Sorry couldn't help myself."

Lightning didn't get why he was smiling from cheek to cheek. She had the question '_what's that suppose to mean?'_ written all over her face.

"No... Seriously? You never HEARD of?" Prompto slapped his forehead. "You said '_that's quite a mouthful_'. I said '_that's what she said_' because—you know what? Never mind! You're too pure. Oh my God it hurts to be in your holy presence. I am unworthy to breathe the air you breathe."

Lightning shifted her feet, causing Prompto to flinch and shield his privates.

"What?" Lightning questioned, wondering why he was acting so strange and defensive.

"N-nothing." Prompto stuttered. "I value my jewels that's all."

"Oh," Lightning brightened up, understanding everything. "You were... Oh."

"Well what's done is done," said Prompto. "I forgive you. Now moving on to more important matters such as your question regarding Noctis's location. I'm afraid I don't have a legitimate answer. All I can say is that he's probably at one of his many clubs drunk as hell and fucking God knows who."

Lightning couldn't help but feel hurt by Prompto's words. She cursed her foolish sentimentality. A tear slipped down her cheek.

"Oh shit," Prompto cursed. He embraced the princess and held her to his chest. The small act of sympathy was enough to throw Lightning off the edge. The angel princess began to sob. Tears poured down her face, wetting Prompto's skin. The young master, however, didn't mind. "I'm sorry princess. I know it's not easy. Shh... There now. It's okay."

_Noctis you shit fuck, _Prompto thought angrily. The need to kill his best friend intensified. _What the fuck are you doing to her?_

Right now all he wanted to do was find Noctis and beat the shit out of him for neglecting his angel of a wife. Honestly, _even_ Noctis wasn't stupid enough to not notice what kind of a fucking delicious prize this princess was.

Lightning hiccuped. "What am I going to do?" She leaned against Prompto's chest, feeling very weak and drowsy. For some reason, she trusted the blond-haired man. Something in the depths of his blue eyes told her that he was trustworthy. "I wish I didn't love him. I wish I wasn't an angel. I'd change into a demon in a heartbeat if it meant that he'd start noticing me..."

The sincerity in her voice shattered Prompto's heart. The usual playboy no longer had a playful grin on his face. It was replaced with a resolute, firm frown.

Noctis had to be blind not to notice the love and devotion this exquisite woman had for him.

Before, there had been only one person that was worthy of Prompto's respect, but now there were two: himself and the angel princess.

He was Prompto, a media mogul, business tycoon, A-list celebrity, world famous playboy—he liked this one. People didn't become celebrities unless he approved of them. Fashions trends didn't become trends unless he thought they were trends_. _A man of his prospects was hard to please and befriend, but the princess had done just that in the most simplest of ways, too.

It was just too hard to hate her. He didn't know how Noctis did it.

Gazing into the princess's crystal green eyes, Prompto was mortified. For the first time ever, he was having trouble holding eye contact with a woman. The princess's eyes were piercing and seemed to be studying his soul. Much to his chagrin, he also found himself blushing, which was tantamount to his cutting off his own penis.

Law of Prompto's world number 1: He _never _blushed. He made others blush.

But damn was she marriage material, Prompto silently mused. Her lovely, luscious hips were perfect for bearing children, and her figure was tempting and mouth-watering. The bitch he had currently fucked paled in comparison to the princess, and that was saying something because supposedly the bitch was the hottest piece of ass to date.

"Princess..." Prompto nudged her softly.

"Hmm?" Lightning answered, parting her lips innocently. However, Prompto and his impure mind registered the action as an act of sexual desire.

_Shit,_ Prompto mentally punched himself. The throbbing between his legs reached a point where he was seriously contemplating on taking off his pants in order to relieve his cock.

Swallowing his lust, Prompto found the strength to finish his dialogue. "Let's establish a few things. First, Noctis does not love you. This might either be because he's gay, which I highly doubt because he hasn't ever made a single pass on me and God knows I'm fucking irresistable, or it might be because he's in denial. I'm pretty sure that's the case; he denies a lot things—like his love for crayons, don't tell him I said that though. Second, Noctis won't bat a single eye at you, and he's currently in severe pain because he wants to fuck you but can't."

Lightning nodded. "That sounds about right. I don't see how this relates to my predicament though."

"I'll get to that," Prompto answered. "You have a huge advantage. In fact, you practically have Noctis wrapped around your finger."

"How so?"

"Demons love sex, crave it. We're known to be monsters in bed with the ability and skill to please ourselves and our partners to greatest extent possible. However, this only goes for pure-blooded demons such as myself and Noctis. That's why women think we're the shit because we are and it shows in bed." Prompto boasted playfully. "Of course our strong sexual urges are also our weaknesses. If we abstain from _pleasurable sex_—yes I said pleasurable because contrary to popular opinion sex can be unpleasant sometimes—for long periods of time, we get extremely horny and go mad. I think Noctis is at this stage, seeming as he hasn't touched you in nearly a week."

"But he has others he can satisfy himself with," Lightning stated disdainfully. "You said it yourself. Women think he's... a monster... in bed."

"No," Prompto contradicted. "Noctis is a different situation. He has a mate, you, so no matter who he fucks or how good the fuck is, he'll never be satisfied until he's—pardon my lewd words—buried in you. With every fuck, his desire to mate you will grow. Eventually it'll build up to a point that Noctis will either cut off his dick, or take action and treat you like he should. Since I assume you're not going to let him touch you until he deserves to, he'll have loads to do to win your love."

"But there's a problem. My being an angel means I have a weakness, too. I'm deteriorating because I'm not in constant contact with my husband. I'll give myself another week before I go mad and start hallucinating," said Lightning. "If I die from delirium, Noctis can take another mate, one more to his suiting."

"Shit," Prompto cursed. "That's a problem. So basically it's a battle to see who lasts longer. Noctis that fucker. He's seriously going to do this."

"I don't know what to do," Lightning whispered, her cold facade came crashing down. She felt pathetic and helpless.

Prompto patted Lightning on the head and ruffled her hair. "Do you trust me?"

"That's a pretty blunt question," Lightning's eyebrows arched up questioningly. She tilted her head up to look into Prompto's dazzling silver eyes, which were so gentle compared to her husband's cold blue ones. Damn, he was tall. "Let's just say I don't _not _trust you."

"Fair enough," Prompto grabbed Lightning's hand. "Come with me. We have shit tons to do."

Before she could utter a single protest, Prompto dragged Lightning through the endless hallways and corridors of the demon palace. The servants they passed by gave them inquisitive looks, but dared not to say anything.

"Why are there so many rooms in this place?" Lightning asked as they were walking along. "I know it's a palace, but is it really necessary to have a hundred rooms per floor in a six story palace?"

Prompto just shrugged. "Noctis thinks it's necessary. He want's at _least_ 20 children."

Lightning paled. "You can't be serious."

"I'm just saying what he said."

They arrived in front of a huge, medieval door leading to Prompto's actual room. Prompto pulled on the massive handles and opened the door. Lightning couldn't help but gasp at the beautiful design of his room. The walls weren't painted black, but white. In the center of the room was a simple, yet elegant bed that was large enough to suit no more than two people. Prompto parted the drapes to reveal a spectacular view. From the balcony, she could see the ocean and the glorious city lights of downtown demon city.

"It's beautiful," Lightning sighed.

"Yes, yes," Prompto waved his hand slowly. "Come over here."

Prompto opened another door. This room was a studio similar to the ones recording artists and professional photographers used for their leisure. It had all of the top-notch equipments: cameras, microphones, radios, etc.

"Welcome to my office," Prompto smiled and stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth. Lightning noticed that he liked to move his tongue around a lot. _Must be habit_, she thought. She should have been mortified by her close inspection of Prompto, but she wasn't. Already, he was starting to feel like a brother to her. "Hold on I have to make a quick call."

"That's okay," she replied. She occupied her time by examining all of the photos adorning his wall. They were all pictures of him and famous celebrities. She recognized one of the them and almost—not quite—squealed in delight.

Standing next to Prompto in the picture was the cutest, little thing ever. Though she would never in her life dare to reveal it, she, the cold, stoic princess had a soft spot for cute, cuddly singers like Roxas Hikari, who had taken the world by storm at the age of fourteen. For two years, he had dominated the charts and appealed to people of all ages and races. At present, he was working on a new album. She knew all of this because her baby sister, who was aspiring to be a musician herself, was obsessed with the blond teenager.

Prompto came walking in and gave her a funny look. "You look happy? Something happen while I was gone?"

Lightning pointed at the picture of Roxas. "You know him?"

"Of course!" Prompto beamed proudly. "I gave birth to him! Well... Maybe I shouldn't put it that way. Let me rephrase that; I gave birth to his career. Name an A-class celebrity and I'll tell you who started their career: me."

"Can you arrange for him to meet me? W-well not me, but my sister would love to meet him." She stated somewhat truthfully.

"Anything you want princess." Prompto winked. "As a matter of fact, let me call him right now." Prompto pulled out his phone and punched a few numbers. "Hey little boo! How you doin' buddy? What? You want a concert downtown? Sure anything for you. Hey listen, I have someone here that wants to talk to you. She's a big fan."

Lightning glared at Prompto.

"It's for you princess," Prompto extended his arm and held out the phone.

Time stopped, Lightning froze. She didn't know what to do.

"Oh my stars," Prompto choked. "You're blushing! My God, the ice princess is swooning over a sixteen year old!"

"Shut up," Lightning regained her composure and cracked her knuckles, threatening to deal out a lot of hurt. She advanced on the blond.

"Hey Roxas," Prompto quickly sputtered into the phone. "I got to go, b-bye! Princess calm down. It was just a joke. No hard feelings right?"

Lightning huffed and folded her arms. "Whatever."

"Okay now back to business. Sit here," he motioned for Lightning to sit in one of the moving chairs. Lightning complied and found herself facing a mirror. "Don't move."

Prompto grabbed a brush and ran it through her hair, untangling every knot. Next, he used a hair iron to perfectly straighten her hair.

"What ar—"

"—Ah, ah, ah. Trust me."

He applied makeup to her face, and finished it off with a light blush. He then disappeared behind the door of another room, and came back with a black dress in his hand.

"Wear this."

"You've got to be kidding me. I won't fit in that, plus I wouldn't be caught dead wearing that thing." She shook her head rapidly.

Prompto rolled his eyes. "Just do it. You can either wear this on your own accord, or I can strip you and put it on for you, which I will enjoy doing so. Your choice."

"Fine!" Lightning snapped. "Turn around and don't you dare look."

"I _would_ dream of it, but I promise I won't look."

"You're hopeless."

"I know."

Lightning tossed off her shirt and slipped out of her pajama pants. She snaked her arms into the dress and put it on. Never in hell would she wear anything like this again. "You can look now."

"Geezus," Prompto laughed, giving her a thorough examination. "I knew there was a girl in there somewhere."

Lightning narrowed her eyes. "You must not value your life."

The threat only caused Prompto to laugh even harder. He motioned for Lightning to lay on one of the couches. Behind it was a green screen that was actually gray. Lightning did as he ordered and lay on the couch with her head propped up by her hand. As she did so, her dress slid downwards, revealing way too much of her cleavage for her liking. She tried to pull her dress up to recover her modesty, but Prompto stopped her.

"Just leave it alone," He advised. "It's okay."

"Of course it's okay for you. You're not the one flashing your chest for the camera," Lightning mumbled, still unhappy about her situation.

"I can take off my shirt if it'll make you feel better," Prompto grinned and lifted his shirt up.

"No! NO!" Lightning shouted quickly. "I've had enough Prompto for one lifetime..."

Setting up a camera on a tripod, Prompto fumbled with some tools and adjusted the lights. He made sure everything was in place before moving on. During this whole time, Lightning remained still like she was ordered to.

"Okay," Prompto beamed brightly. "Everything's ready." His face vanished behind the lens of an expensive camera. "Hold on. Can you give me a seductive smile?"

Though the notion was new, Lightning tried her best to look 'seductive'.

Prompto reappeared in her line of sight and looked pained. "Sweetheart, I've seen newborn babies look more seductive than you."

"Well I'm sorry I'm not exactly into this kind of thing!" Lightning snapped angrily.

"This," Prompto pointed to the front of the lens. "Is Noctis's face. Imagine it's Noctis. Now Noctis here is a minute away from ditching you for some hoe. Give him a look that will make him want you. Make him regret every moment he's spent away from you."

On impulse, Lightning tilted her chin down and looked into the camera with wide, innocent eyes. She shaped her lips into a luscious triangle, and imagined that she was going to give her a husband a warm and loving kiss.

The camera clicked rapidly and massive amounts of flash went off.

"Oh God," she heard Prompto groan. "That is the single most fucking hottest thing I've ever seen."

Lightning shifted into a sitting position and rubbed her elbow. It was sore from bearing the brunt of her weight. "Are we done?"

"Are you kidding?" said Prompto. He held up a one-piece swimsuit, a casual trench coat, and a couple other pieces of clothing. "We're not even started!"

** ღ ღ ღ**

Noctis groaned for the hundredth time that day. No amount of drinking or sex would relieve the tension growing within him. The burning pain was clouding his senses. He held up another glass and emptied it in seconds.

His demon was crying out for his mate. A fucking pitiful action on its part. He would not bow to the whims of his body and sacrifice his dignity for a lay with his wife. No, there had to be other ways to counter this ache and longing.

"Fuck!" He swore loudly as his groin throbbed unbearably again. His hands were clenched so tightly that they began to bleed from the palms and his hardness was threatening to break free of its cage: his pants.

Soon every image in his mind was replaced with haunting images of his angel wife, who was watching him lovingly with her soul piercing eyes. Try as he might, he couldn't forget the sight of her weeping silently at the wedding altar and calling out for him. He had seen all of it that day.

_Just give in_, whispered his demon. Oh how the notion was so tempting. _Fuck her, you know you want to. Claim her as yours, satisfy me._

The bartender walked up to him and took his drink. Before he left he said a few words. "Congratulations prince, she's a beauty. Everyone's talking about her."

Noctis sat up. "Talking about who?"

"Your wife of course!" The bartender exclaimed.

"And how, pray tell me, do you know how my wife looks like?" Noctis glared menacingly. His fingers were itching to strangle someone. Anyone who dared to talk about his wife so intimately in front of him was just begging to be killed.

"She's on the cover of every hit fashion magazine!" The bartender answered. "I'm surprised you didn't know."

The bartender threw him the latest issue of Fashion—Prompto's popular magazine.

Fuck, the bartender hadn't been lying. On the cover of the magazine was his wife, and the little bitch was wearing one of the most revealing dresses he had ever seen. God, she looked so fucking hot and edible wearing a satin dress that clung to her curves like a second skin.

Noctis snarled angrily and shattered his glass against the floor.

_No One._

No one was allowed to see her creamy, smooth skin. No, that right was exclusively reserved for him. Looking at the picture once more, he noticed his little chit of a wife was so daring as to flaunt a great of amount of her cleavage.

He slammed his fist on the table furiously and clenched his teeth. His desire for her had finally reached the point where it was impossible for him to function without sexually claiming her as his mate.

First, he was going to kill Prompto for pulling this stunt. And then, he was going to fuck the life out his princess for even daring to tempt him. Hell, when he was through, he'd have one less headache to worry about.

"Christ!" He heard someone shout. "This bitch is fucking hot! I'd give my right nut to fuck her."

The rest of the men laughed in agreement. "Look at those lips. It's like she's saying please fuck me in the face."

"Yeah!" Another half-goblin answered. "I bet she swallows!"

"Hahahaha!" They all laughed.

Noctis quitely replayed scenes of their deaths in his head, and when he opened his eyes, gone were the blue irises. They were replaced with bloodthirsty red ones. In a single second, he was at their table.

Without hesitation, he grabbed the head of the man who had started the conversation about his wife, and smashed his face against marble table. Blood splattered all over the clothes of the goblins, who screamed in surprise.

One by one, he slit their throats with a knife. He reveled in the sounds of their choking, last breaths. After all, there was nothing sweeter than the sound of death.

They had brought this upon themselves. No one regarded his wife in such a manner. The only person who could abuse her was him. Anyone else would die by his hands, and he would enjoy watching them drown in their blood.

Noctis stood to leave.

"Where are you going?" asked the bartender. He wasn't fazed by deaths. The prince had come to his bar too often for him to be surprised anymore. "Leaving so soon?"

"I have business to attend to," Noctis replied coldly. He put on his suit and adjusted his tie.

"What kind of business?" came the bartender's curious inquiry.

"My children."

"You don't have any children," stated the bartender as a matter of fact.

"I know I don't," Noctis flashed his teeth and licked his lips. The slight display of twisted emotion made chills run down the spine of the bartender.

_"But after tonight, I definitely will."_

** ღ ღ ღ**

A/N: WOOO. Got this one done! Hope you guys like it! I really pumped a lot of thought into this chapter.

Don't worry if you have any questions, all will be revealed in later chapters!

Oh and also! I have this weird writing disease where I leave out words. When I proof-read, I'll read a sentence like _He smiled at her happily_, and skim by it when in reality, it's really written as _He smiled her happily (I left out at)._ If you notice that I've left out words or have any grammar mistakes, please point them out for me! Thanks a million!  
I'll update as soon as I can, so review!

Thanks for hanging in there and reading! You guys make my day, every day.

Next chapter: **Pluto**


	5. Pluto

**Matrimony**

A/N: WAAAAAARGH! *_Eel Nivek_ has died because of the awesomeness of his readers* BLAME THESE PEOPLE! XD **Cam277, Henrietta Skylink, Lynn, tropicalgurl21, D, jasmine6653, m0echan-dh3NextSE'sCEO, Silver-MemoryKeeper, MelodiusNocturn, Kingu, shadow heart, Terradu27, Z Mini-Licious, XxXStarxDustXxX, Oblivion Star Seeker, CFarron, BlazeFireSaber, MonsterKiwi, Addicted-To-Tic-Tacs, My Loveless Melody, snowlily, Cissa, Hakurama, YOUR NUMBER ONE FAN, lovetayrn, Yuki Minamoto, Deviltrigger Dante**,** NoctLightXIII , Farron Caelum, Lightis, SparklesANuna96, zeroblade63, nisu-chan25, yonomi, Skye8055, beesho, KAMIKAZERAMEN, ZoMg1010, Scarlet, Anonymous, LeeleeAiren, slipsour.**

**Chapter 5: Pluto**

"Dog or cat?"

"Dogs of course! Cats are boring."

"No they're not. You can make them jump into walls with laser pointers."

Lightning rolled her eyes and snuggled closer to Prompto. "Well cats meow, and they're annoying."

_Plip plop!_ Rain beat against the windows and emptied the room of silence. Prompto, seeing Lightning shiver, pulled the bed sheets over them. Thunder boomed in the distance, signaling the coming of a storm.

BOOM!

Lightning yelped and pulled the covers over her head. The weather was definitely not on her side today.

Watching his princess reveal her soft side, Prompto sighed. Honestly, she could be such a child sometimes. Seeing her quiver under their blankets made him wonder where the stoic, uptight princess had gone.

"It's only a little thunder," Prompto poked her nose. As if listening to his words, the sky crackled once more, this time with ferocity. Lightning shrieked and buried her face against his chest. She wrapped her arms around his massive waist and squeezed tightly, praying that the weather would find someone else to bother. "Okay, maybe not."

Prompto couldn't help, but smile. His princess was just too adorable when she was frightened. Apparently, thunderstorms had made it to the top of her list of 'most scary' things. It barely missed first place, losing to her worst fear: seeing him naked.

"Jeez Claire, don't be a little baby," He snorted, referring to her by her real name. He and Lightning had officially established a sibling relationship a few days ago, after the publication of his latest magazine issue. They trusted each other and confided in each other like brothers and sisters would.

Of course being siblings meant that physical proximity boundaries were crossed as well. Lightning wasn't unnerved or mortified by the fact that she was hugging a male other than her husband. In fact, she had to admit. Prompto was the best pillow ever.

"It's cold," Lightning grabbed all of the blankets and wrapped them around her, forming a cocoon of sorts and leaving Prompto blanket-less.

"Give me some!" He whined.

"No!" She chirped playfully and turned away from him.

"Oh hell no," Prompto laughed. "I'm going count to five. _One_..."

Lightning pretended she didn't hear him.

"Five."

It happened so fast that she didn't even register _what_ exactly had happened. One minute she was on the bed, covered in blankets. The next, she was on the floor with only her shorts and t-shirt to protect her from the freezing weather.

"You idiot!" She complained angrily. The cold floor tiles did nothing, but evoke her anger even more. "You kicked me off of the bed!"

Prompto, who was now smothered by blankets, stuck out his tongue. "Your powers of observation never cease to amaze me."

Quicker than a blink, the atmosphere grew dense. A sinister air of contempt pervaded the room and made it hard to breath. The princess and playboy pair jumped to their feet immediately and gave each other knowing looks. This evil aura belonged to only one person. The prince of the palace was finally home.

"Shit," Prompto cursed. "Shit, shit! What's he doing home? He's not due for another week!"

"He's going to kill me," Lightning whispered. The thought of Noctis finding her in Prompto's room terrified her. Noctis would no doubt jump to conclusions and murder her, or at least beat her within an inch of her life. Soul mate syndrome be damned.

"He's going to kill _us_," Prompto corrected. Even in serious situations, he managed to retain his cool.

The doors flung open and slammed against the walls, almost tearing them off their hinges. Standing at the entrance, silent and poised, was Noctis. He looked every bit the prince he was with his tailor-made attire.

Despite the situation, Lightning's heart beat rapidly. As if sensing its mate, it reacted brightly. Lightning couldn't help, but drool over her husband's perfect appearance. He was a God in demon disguise. His hair was messily styled in its natural spikes. His eyes were as cool and mysterious as the deep depths of the ocean. His body was tall, lean and broad, perfect for royalty such as he.

Noctis took a step forward. Lightning took a step backward.

The hungry desire and lust she read in his eyes was not promising for her. She knew, whether she gave him her consent or not, somehow her husband would find a way to take her tonight. He had abstained from her for too long.

"Well what have we here," Noctis snarled and shoved her against the wall, hard. Seeing her in a scanty white shirt and shorts enraged him even more. "Are you so desperate that you would resort to fucking my friends?"

Fury welled within her as her head collided against the marble wall. The blow hurt her pride more than it did her head. How dare he insinuate that she slept with others when he himself was doing just that?

"Noctis calm the fuck down," Prompto bared his teeth and pulled his friend away from the delicate princess. Gone was the silly smile from his face. A look of outrage had replaced it. If Noctis thought he could manhandle Claire in his presence then he was severely mistaken. No one, not even he, laid a hand on her.

Noctis quickly responded by shoving his blond-haired friend to the floor. Prompto grunted as his back hit the cold pavement. Before he could react, Noctis pressed a knee against his chest, forcing him to lay on the ground. A fist went up only to come crashing into Prompto's cheek. The right side of his face erupted with pain.

"No!" Lightning shouted as the horrifying images of her husband bloodying Prompto registered in her eyes. She ran over to where the men were fighting and shoved her husband off of Prompto. Oh God, Prompto's face was badly damaged. Why didn't he fight back? She didn't doubt he was strong, but he had just laid there and taken the blows.

Lightning tried to heal him, but Noctis grabbed a fistful of her hair and dragged her away. Tears threatened to fall as her scalp continued to burn, and as her hair nearly tore off from the force of the pull.

Her husband let her go at the opposite end of the room before walking back to Prompto, who was lying on the floor, barely conscious.

Noctis stood over his friend and glared at him. He could smell his wife's lovely scent all over his friend. The mere realization made him clench his teeth with disgust. Who knew what kind of physical acts they had performed during his absence?

"What are you waiting for dumb fuck?" Prompto snickered and spat out blood. He gave his friend a lazy look. "Feeling for sorry me?"

"I'm going to kill you," Noctis answered silently. His anger was causing his breathing to be erratic and uneven. "I don't give a flying fuck if you're my friend, I'm going to murder you."

"Do it! I'm sick of your shit." Prompto roared in response. "Do it!"

"You fucking touched my wife!" Noctis shouted back, grabbing him by the collar of his white shirt. He punched Prompto again. "I trusted you." His sinister tone was starting to lose its edge.

"Why the fuck do you care if I touched her? You're too caught up with your skanks and whores to even care about her. Have you ever, since your marriage, bothered to look at her with the eyes of a husband, not the eyes of a fucking sex starved lunatic?" Prompto pushed Noctis with such force that the prince went flying in the opposite direction. Rubbing his cheek, Prompto stood and slowly walked towards Noctis. "You can't answer that question, can you? Listen to me Noct."

Prompto held him up by the shirt and landed a nice, clean blow to his face. "Grow the fuck up."

Noctis staggered backwards, but regained his footing by placing a hand on the wall for balance. He held his hands out and conjured up his swords. From wall to wall, the room was filled with swords of all designs. Their tips were directed at Prompto.

Prompto remained calm and unfazed. He casted a simple spell and held a shot gun with one hand, aiming for the prince's heart. "My gun doesn't use ordinary bullets. You should know that by now. I pull this trigger, you die. End of story. Not even your barrier can stop my gun. Call off your swords."

Noctis growled angrily, but made no indication that he was going to attack Prompto. They were at a stalemate.

This would not do. He never submitted to anyone. Noctis did mental calculations and hypothesized how long it would take Prompto to shoot before he moved. If, as he predicted, it took Prompto more than four seconds then he would have plenty of impale him before he had the time to react.

He bolted.

Prompto reacted without hesitation.

The sound of gunshots rang throughout room; the smell of gunpowder pervaded the atmosphere.

Noctis froze and watched with wide eyes as his wife dove in front of him, taking the bullets that were meant for him. He felt her slump against his chest, lifeless. Her frail body fit perfectly against his strong, lean one.

"N-no," He whispered in shock. Blood moistened his hands, and contaminated his clothes. He didn't care. All he wanted was to see his princess open her eyes. God! Why did she have to be so selfless? Why didn't she let him take the bullets? He touched her cheek. She was deathly cold, and blood was streaming out of the wound over her right breast.

Prompto, likewise, was unable to process what had transpired.

"N-Noctis," Lightning coughed weakly and laid her head against his chest. "It hurts... M-make it stop."

"No, no, no. Light look at me!" He commanded harshly, and grabbed her cheeks in his hands. She would not die on him. She didn't dare. "Open your eyes!" Oh how the fates were toying with him. The irony of the situation was disgusting. All this time he had wished for his wife's death, but when presented with the opportunity to rid himself of her, he bawled like a child losing someone dear.

In all honesty, he had never wanted her to get hurt. Sure, he had his fair share of juvenile thoughts about her, but they were only thoughts. As the reality of the situation towered over his conscience, Noctis prayed to God that he would grant him one wish. _Don't take her from me, I beg you_. She was the light in the dark castle that was he.

No matter how hard he tried to channel his thoughts away from her, he couldn't. She was his life; his soul mate. He'd do everything in his power to restore her.

_No!_ Her heart was failing. He could feel her pulse weakening.

Pressing a hand over her wound, Noctis blasted all of his healing spells into her body.

They didn't work. The wound was too deep and too severe to cure with his level of healing, only advance treatment could salvage her soul.

"Call the fucking healers!" Noctis barked at Prompto.

Prompto fumbled for his phone and dialed the number for the medics. "Yeah I know this is the hospital. I need a group of healers over here pronto. What? Fuck you, you come here! My friend doesn't have the time or energy to be taken to the hospital ward. That's too bad? Do you know who you're fucking talking to? I will end you."

The phone conversation lasted for about ten minutes. Prompto finally spoke up. "The healers are on their way. They want us to move Claire to the palace's hospital ward."

_Claire. _Noctis twitched angrily. Prompto's use of his wife's birth name angered him extremely. It indicated that Prompto shared a bond more intimate than friendship with his wife. That was abhorrently unacceptable.

"Don't touch her!" He hissed as Prompto tried to take his wife into his arms. "As a matter of fact, get the fuck away from her. You've done enough damage for today."

"But—"

"Didn't you fucking hear me?" Noctis rose to his feet carrying Lightning in his arms, bridal-style. His patience was nearly at its end. "Get. Out. _Now_."

His words were so laced with venom and malice that Prompto had no choice but to back off. Noctis was in full-demon takeover, meaning he would do anything and kill anyone in order to protect his mate. It wouldn't be wise to agitate him in this form. Never in his life had Prompto seen his best friend so enraged.

"Fine," Prompto nodded curtly. "You better take care of her, or else." _I won't miss next time._

With those words, the prince's blond haired friend took his leave, vanishing into the shadows of the palace.

Noctis glanced down at his wife, who appeared to be in a deep sleep. He brushed her bangs away and checked her temperature. Fuck, she was burning with fever. He quickly transferred her over to the palace's healing room, where a handful of servants had gathered.

He set her down against a bed and ordered one of the servants to treat her wounds. In fear of their lives, the servants performed the task with precision. It would do them no good to harm the princess with their clumsiness.

"Where are the healers?" He questioned.

"My lord, I've received word that they have just reached the palace gates," answered an old servant woman.

Noctis cursed out loud. If they were barely at the palace gates and traveling on foot then that meant it would take them roughly ten minutes to reach the healing room. His Light didn't have ten minutes. The way she crinkled her brows and writhed in her unconscious state was evidence.

"Can't they hurry up!" He roared and flung a chair at no one in particular.

The servants cringed as their prince continued to rage about. It was too early for them, having suffered through their princess's rampage earlier this week.

"Please my lord. Calm down!" cried a servant girl. "The destruction you are causing is detrimental to the princess's recovery."

_Oh my God, you stupid girl. _The older, more wise servants and butlers mentally slapped themselves and recited a quick prayer for the young girl. Maybe God would be more lenient to her, since they knew the prince wouldn't be. No one with half a brain dared to scold the prince.

A wave of gasps spontaneously broke out from the servants when the prince dropped the chair he was holding. The whole room nearly fainted with shock when they saw the prince amble around the room anxiously. The prince was worried for Christ's sakes! Call the priests, it was a miracle!

The doors burst open, and a trio of healers rushed in.

"Where is the princess?" asked the first healer.

Noctis pointed to the only bed in the ward, where Lightning lay still, quiet as a mouse.

"Dear lord, she's lost an insurmountable amount of blood."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Noctis shook the tiny man back and forth. "You can heal her, right?"

"I'm afraid..." The healer paused. "There is only one cure."

"Then use it."

"It is not that simple, my lord."

Noctis howled in rage. Certainly, the retarded healer didn't know what he was talking about or who his client was. His wife was minutes from death, and this idiot was babbling in riddles and tongues. Unacceptable, he would dispose of him and order the other two to do the job that he failed to do.

Before he could run the man through with one of his blades, the healer spoke out. "The only cure is love."

"What the fuck? Does this look like some kind of Disney movie to you?" Noctis spat while crushing the man's windpipes.

The healer replied despite the pressure Noctis was applying on his throat. "It is the only way. Angels and demons—especially pure bloods—are immortal, unable to succumb to natural causes or time, as long as their mates flourish them with love. I am telling you that the only way to save the princess is by demonstrating your love for her."

It made sense.

"How exactly do I demonstrate my 'love' for her?"

"It's quite simple," replied the healer. "You must kiss her. It's the only way _appropriate_ way to transfer your love to her."

"You should have said that earlier," Noctis made his way to his wife's side. Gently caressing her cold cheek, he leaned down and planted a kiss on her lips. He didn't stop there. He put one hand behind her head and drew her closer to him.

As if by magic, Lightning started to stir slowly. Her small gasp of surprise was all Noctis needed to gain access to her mouth. He flicked his tongue against the roof of her mouth and the sides of her cheeks. The subtle action was enough to elicit an electrifying moan from the recovering angel.

Noctis was the first to pull away. The kiss had been so powerful that it completely erased the throbbing pain residing within him. However, the fates were not so merciful to his cause. Noctis found himself wanting even more from his tiny wife. If possible, his desire to claim her had increased, tenfold.

Taking his wife in her current condition was out of the question. He would be patient and endure until she had healed up. After she had recovered, she was fair game. No matter how despicable fucking her had once sounded, everything changed. He would not deny his demon's hunger, any longer.

If the only way to mate her was by earning her approval then so be it. By all means, he would convince her that he loved her.

"Noctis..." came her weak voice.

Noctis held her small hands in his large ones and looked down at her. In her current state, she looked every bit of an angel. Timid, weak, and frail. It was hard to believe that this side of his wife co-existed with the other, strong side of her.

"W-water," she rasped out. "I need water."

Noctis glanced at one of the servants. "You heard her."

Lightning received a glass of water and quickly drank it down. She pulled down her shirt to examine the gun wound, only to find that there was no wound at all. All that remained was dry blood.

"I'm okay," she muttered. "I'm not dead."

Her husband remained silent. A hundred different thoughts were racing through his head. How was he suppose to approach her?

"Do you want anything?" _God damn it. _He mentally slapped himself.

Lightning perked up. "M-me?" The way he sounded concerned was genuine. If this was a dream then she didn't want to wake up because she could have sworn that she had just heard her husband ask her if _she_ wanted anything.

"Yes, you stupid bi—I mean..." Noctis groaned. Trying to be nice was more painful than listening to Prompto sing. "Yes... _Dear._"

What angel had possessed her husband that he would call her 'dear'?

"I want a dog."

"No."

"But you said—"

"No."

"Fine, I want to see Prompto."

Noctis darkened at the mention of his friend. "Hell no. He just shot you."

"He didn't mean to."

"No."

"Is there anything I can get without you saying no?" Lightning asked, frustrated.

"No," Noctis smiled, teasing his wife was fun. She was too adorable and delectable when angry.

Lightning gasped. Butterflies danced around in her stomach and made her fuzzy when she saw her husband smile. He looked absolutely charming and stunning when his countenance brightened up. Two dimples, one on each cheek, highlighted his smile, and for once, made him look more human than demon.

"Stop that," he grunted.

"What?"

"You're laughing at me."

"You're cute when you smile."

He purposely scowled. "I am not cute." Did she really think he was cute? He made a note to smile more often when he wanted her cooperation or when she got mad.

"Why are you doing this Noctis?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you being nice to me?" Lightning questioned. She moved around and lie on her side to look directly into her husband's eyes. "You hate me."

"I honestly can't answer that question," Noctis averted his gaze. "I still hate you, but I don't. It's complicated... You look tired, go to sleep."

"I'm not tired," she shook her head.

"Stop being stubborn."

"Who's being stubborn? You're the one trying to force me to sleep."

"Why can't you be a good, little angel like the rest of them?"

"If I was, you'd lose interest in me."

Noctis paused. Why would she ever believe such a thing? _Maybe because you've been a fucking ass to her_, noted his demon. She would never be bland or boring in his eyes, no matter how much he stated otherwise. She was his other half. There was no way in hell, he'd lose interest in her.

For once in his life, he felt a slight bit guilty for giving her the impression that he despised her.

The phone rang. Noctis searched his suit for it and answered. "One sec," he glanced down at Lightning before leaving the room.

Lightning laid her head against the pillow and sighed. The stunning turn of events with her husband were astounding. She'd have never thought of seeing the day when Noctis would show concern for her. Hell, he had even flirted with her for a bit. Maybe just maybe, her luck would change.

A knock on the balcony window drew her attention.

The glass, sliding door opened and Prompto slid in, smiling.

"Did it work?" He asked.

"I think it did," Lightning replied. "Let's see, he kissed me. He was civil. He was concerned about my well-being. Oh, and he called me dear."

Prompto whistled. "Damn, I should shoot you more often. The shots didn't hurt did they?"

"Nope," she reassured. "But I am curious as to how you managed to make the shots bloody."

"Magic bullets," Prompto explained. "Painless, but bloody. Noctis didn't suspect a thing due to your award-winning performance. Natural born actress, I see."

"You flatter me," Lightning blushed. "The healer you called. He was—"

"—paid to tell Noctis to kiss you and all that soul mate mojo," Prompto winked. "Though half of what he said was true. In reality, if you do get mortally wounded, only Noctis will be able to save you."

"Things might change for the better," she sighed.

"I hope they do." Prompto shot to his feet. "Crap, he's coming back. Gotta go!"

He closed the sliding door and disappeared behind the parapet.

Noctis re-entered the room and walked over to her. "You're not asleep."

"I can't sleep," she rubbed her eyes. "Too much on my mind."

"I brought you something."

"Hm?"

"Come here boy... or girl," He stuck out a piece of meat in the direction of the doorway. A shabby, orange dog came bounding in happily. The creature was riddled with numerous scratches, dirt marks, and had a slight limp. It was a saddening to see it so happy when it was so beaten and bruised. Lightning knew by the way the dog winced with every step it took that its days were numbered.

"You said you wanted a dog, so I got one for you," Noctis stated nonchalantly.

"Where did you get her?" She asked suspiciously.

"Outside," was his indifferent reply.

"Noctis!" She scolded loudly. "You can't just take a dog from the streets. It could belong to someone else!"

"So?" He shrugged. "It doesn't care. Look, food." He waved the piece of meat, and by response, the dog woofed and rushed over to grab it. "See?"

Lightning huffed and prayed for patience. _God help me_. Her husband would be the death of her.

"Hey!" Noctis shouted as the dog snatched the steak from his hand and dashed out of the room. "Eat and run!"

"Let's go chase it," Lightning smiled as she got off of the bed. She noticed Noctis's look of uncertainty. "I'm fine, you don't have to worry about me."

"Alright." Noctis nodded.

The pair took off, chasing after the thief dog. Unbeknownst to them, a bond was forming.

** ღ ღ ღ**

Their game of tag had lasted quite a while. The dog had led them way passed the boundaries of the demon palace. At present, Lightning and Noctis found themselves in Avalon, the poorest slum in the continent, where orphans roamed the streets in search for food. It was a place where the more royal of demons turned their heads from. Bad things originated from this place.

Avalon had a notorious reputation for its poverty and crime. All efforts, on part of the angels, to reconstruct this area had failed. Too many rapes and muggings had discouraged further attempts to civilize the place.

Nowadays, most people ignored Avalon, even going so far as removing it from maps. It was the black sheep of the country. People who left Avalon, in search of jobs, found themselves rejected from all business corporations. The stigma placed on the district was that bad. No reputable entrepreneur would hire an Avalonian citizen.

Trash was strewn on the streets, and the buildings and huts looked like they would come crashing down at any minute. To make things worse, the odor was unbearable. Only the poorest of the poor lived in this region.

Most of the residents were half-demons. The more uncommon ones were humans, and angels were a rarity in Avalon.

Instinctively, Lightning clutched her husband's hand. People were looking at them from the shadows of the alleyways, waiting for them to reveal a sign of wealth.

"What are you scared for?"

He's right, Lightning thought. Her husband alone had a reputation far more terrifying than this place. In fact in terms of terror, Avalon was a child compared to Noctis. The thought eased her.

"Sorry," she mumbled.

"It turned over there," Noctis walked with Lightning to an alley between two small apartments.

Children's voices were heard. "Give it here!"

The sound of wood striking flesh was accompanied by a yelp.

Lightning stumbled upon a horrifying sight. In center of a circle of at least thirty children was the dog, bloodied beyond repair. The only hint that it was still alive was the movement of its stomach as it breathed slowly. Clenched between its jaw was the steak.

All of the children were waving their wooden sticks and taking turns hitting the poor dog, trying to force it to release the steak.

Why hadn't the dog just eaten it? Lightning didn't understand. Why would she bring it here?

"Stop it!" Lightning yelled at the children. "You're hurting her!"

The children, not used to being ordered around, immediately turned their attention to the angel princess. "Who the hell do you think you are?" One of them cried out.

Lightning made her way to the dog and held it in her arms. It gave one last pitiful whine before closing its eyes for the last time. The piece of steak dropped from its mouth and into her hand. The children seeing this advanced on her, sticks raised. She was so shocked and devastated by the children's actions that she didn't have the will to dodge. Thankfully, the blow never came.

Noctis held a small child up in the air by the throat. "You want to die?"

The child put up quite a struggle. Noctis assumed this kid was the leader by the way the others followed after him. He roughly tossed the tiny child to the floor and drew a sword. The other children cried out and backed away.

Noctis was presented with two options: to behead the child or disembowel him.

With the intent to do both and set an example for the rest of the children, Noctis walked towards the injured boy.

The pained whisper of his wife drew him out his blood-lust. "Please don't Noctis, he's just a child. He doesn't know anything, and I'm fine."

He was hell bent on continuing what he was doing when Lightning grabbed him around the waist and hugged him. All of the violent thoughts he harbored diminished immediately. "Fine..."

Noctis glared at the children and shouted. "Scram you little shits!"

The children didn't need to be told twice. They fled as quickly as they could, not caring about trampling one another in the process.

When the all of the children had disappeared, Lightning fell to her knees. Noctis immediately rushed to her side.

"You okay?"

Lightning nodded slowly. "Yeah... I just don't understand why the children would do such a horrible thing. The poor thing never stood a chance."

A rustling sound drew her attention. At the dead end of the alleyway, a trash can toppled over with a loud bang. Noctis stood in front of Lightning, sword poised to kill the intruder.

From the dirty boxes emerged a small, orange puppy, no bigger than a kitten. It was tiny enough to fit in a human's hand. The puppy cautiously trotted over to the body of the older dog and nudged her unmoving corpse. It let loose a tiny whimper and nudged the dog harder.

Having gotten no reaction, it moved and licked the other dog's snout. It gave another whimper, which came out as a mewl.

Lightning understood what was going on. The puppy was crying for its mother, who was now deceased. Everything became clear. The reason why the dog hadn't eaten the meat in the first place was because she had wanted to give it to her pup.

The selfless act had gotten her killed.

Lightning took a hold of the unsuspecting puppy and cradled it between her arms. It was so tiny and frail that the wind could have knocked it over. Without its mother, it was bound to follow in her footsteps. Only death awaited the weak.

The puppy stared back at her with curious eyes, wondering what kind of creature she was.

"Noctis," Lightning whispered hoarsely. Her sentimental feelings were getting to her. "Promise me, one thing."

Noctis looked at his wife with his arms folded. He nodded in response.

"Promise me... That when we have children, you'll love them," she requested. "You can hate me all you want, abhor me even, but don't neglect our children. That's all I ask of you. Love them, give them all you can."

"You offend me if you believe I wouldn't show an ounce of love or respect to the mother of my children," he replied silently. "I'm not as ill-mannered as most believe me to be. You don't have to worry about our children, either. I'll give them my undivided attention and love them equally."

"Then promise me."

"I promise."

Lightning smiled as they entwined their fingers together.

A small yip grabbed their attention. The puppy barked, asking for attention.

Lightning kissed it on the nose. It licked her in response.

"I'm going to call you Pluto," she cooed. "Do you like that?"

The puppy tilted his head and gave her a funny look. It licked her again.

"I guess that's a yes. Noctis would you like to say a few words to Pluto?" She held out the puppy for Noctis to hold.

Noctis looked at it hesitantly. The little mongrel was filthy from head to paw, and he had no wish to dirty his suit, which cost more than the whole district of Avalon. However, the look that his wife gave him was impossible to say no to. Damn, she had him wrapped around her fingers.

He frowned as he held the puppy as far away from his body as possible. "Hey ugly."

The puppy growled, offended.

"You see that woman there," he made the puppy look at Lightning. "That's my wife, okay?"

"Kiss her again, and I'll kill you."

**ooo**

From up above, a lone figure watched the interaction between angel, demon, and animal.

The mother dog was happy to see that the angel and demon had decided to take her pup under their wings.

If her eyes weren't deceiving her, she believed that the demon's possessiveness of the angel was turning out to be possessiveness out of love rather than obligation. The demon never could seem to take his eyes off of the angel princess.

The angel and demon were showing signs of progress in their relationship. Their future looked promising.

A loud clatter of bells signaled the start of dinner. She didn't have much time left.

The figure glanced at the trio one last time before moving away from the edge of the cloud and into the gates of Heaven.

One day, she would be reunited with her pup.

But for now, she would leave her pup's care in the hands of the angel and demon, who both showed the ability to love.

** ღ ღ ღ**

A/N: Eel Nivek has died like I mentioned in the author's note up above, so Matrimony will not be continued.

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_Bahahaha! Late April Fools!_ All I have to say about this chapter is that it is a necessity for future chapters. Pluto is going to play a major role later on so bear with me! Thanks for reading, and remember to review!

OMFG is Noctis being nice, or is it just a ploy? Hmmm... I wonder?

PS: Oh my God. **Matrimony** has gotten 5000 hits! WAAAW... I can't even count that high!


	6. The Third Race

**Matrimony**

A/N: Okay, all I can say is sorry for the wait! I love you readers and reviewers!

**Chapter 6: The Third Race**

A month flew by, and all was silent in the demon palace.

Sitting at the throne was the dark prince with his cold, calculating eyes darker than coal. Silently, Noctis jogged his memory by replaying all the events that had come to pass, from his exchange of vows to the adopting of Pluto.

Though he had been determined at first, he had never stuck with his plan of ridding himself of his wife. All of his prejudices had been thrown out of the window when he promised her he would take care of their family. He had decided to give her a chance.

And to put it quite simply, her entry into his life was the best thing ever.

His nightly habit of going out had stopped. He developed patience, which that in itself was a miracle.

His wife stated outright that it was her goal to tame him. As far as that issue was concerned, she was doing better than well.

_"Fuck!"_

_"Noctis, language!"_

_"Sorry..."_

He laughed out loud. She had done the impossible; he had apologized!

Of course, his influence was not lost on her.

_"Light, you're going to hurt yourself."_

_"No I'm no—ah FUCK!" Lightning cursed before quickly clasping her hands over her mouth, mortified by her improper use of language. _

_"That's my girl," he laughed._

Now that he thought about it. Maybe just maybe his little wife could pierce his black heart and slay the devil within him.

"Yip!"

Noctis settled his head against the headrest of his dark throne and mouthed off a few curses. That damned mutt was crying again. Agreeing to let Light keep the little piece of shit was the worst decision he had ever made.

And he was paying for it.

"Yip!"

One more time, he chided. Do it, see what happens. Shifting around in his seat, he dared the pup to bark once more.

"Yip! Grr..."

That was it. He stood and walked away from his throne, with the intention of reuniting the pup with its mother.

Following the gradually increasing number of barks, he came to his room. The sound was coming from the other side of the door. _Time to play puppy night-night forever_, he thought amusingly as he opened the door.

Seeing what the stupid thing was whining about, he concluded that the mutt had to be the most idiotic creature in the world

Trapped between his bed and his wife's lovely bosom was the pup, who was trying desperately to free itself from its sleeping master's clutches. Didn't the stupid thing realize where it was at, and just who it was being smothered by?

He'd kill to trade places with the mutt. He'd kill to feel his wife's soft, creamy breasts on his face.

Good God, he was envying a puppy!

Noctis moved over to the side of his ridiculously large bed and examined his wife. Christ, she was a silver goddess sent to him by the heavens. He would never tire of her or her angelic looks. Even in her sleep with her ruffled appearance, she was inhumanely beautiful. He inhaled painfully as she sighed in her sleep. He wanted nothing more but to show her what real pleasure was, but damn he'd be lucky if he ever received her consent. His desire to mate her would be fulfilled in time.

He nudged her slowly. Lightning unconsciously shifted to the left, freeing little Pluto from his prison.

Grabbing Pluto by the nape of the neck, Noctis chucked the puppy off of the bed. Pluto landed on the hard floor and whined pitifully, hoping that his lady master would awake and punish her evil husband.

"Get out of here, you stupid mutt," Noctis growled and stomped on the ground when he got no reaction.

Pluto scampered out the door frightfully.

Closing the door behind Pluto, Noctis climbed under the covers and pulled Lightning to him. He placed his hands against her toned stomach and groaned. Her body molded perfectly into his, strengthening the notion that she was made for him.

Lightning stirred awake.

She turned to greet her husband. With a half grin, she nuzzled his muscular chest.

"Hi."

"Hi," Noctis replied softly, his lips forming some semblance of a smile. "You were supposed to be awake an hour ago."

"Mmm..." was her lazy response. "I want to sleep some more."

"You can't," he brushed her cheek with his. "We have to get ready for today. A whole bunch of people are going to be unhappy if they find out that the host of the party is going to be absent, especially when weeks of preparations were put into this day."

"Boo," Lightning mumbled and buried her head under a pillow. "Really. I'm fine, I don't need a gigantic party for my introduction into demon society."

"You do. A lot of ambassadors and diplomats from different demon races are coming to bestow their blessings upon you. The only way to keep them entertained is by sticking with this plan of throwing a party, so wake up."

"No."

"What was that?" Noctis asked in a sing-song, sweet voice.

Lightning shivered and sat straight up, rubbing the last remains of sleep from her eyes. Whenever her husband used that tone, bad things happened, especially to her. Her husband wasn't a notorious sex icon for no reason. She had found that out the hard way during the past few weeks. She didn't even want to think about the time he had tied her to the bed and... Oh God that had been a devastating experience.

"Good girl," he patted her head.

"Stop that. I hate it when you do that!" Lightning growled. "It's so condescending."

"I'll stop it once you deserve it and right now, I don't think you deserve it," Noctis ruffled her hair again. Only this time Lightning was ready for it. She grabbed her husband's arm and bit him on the shoulder, hard.

"Ow! What are you, some kind of vampire?"

Lightning nodded and licked the tips of her canines. "Blood, I want your blood."

"Well then my lady," Noctis answered. "I want something in return."

"And what would that be?'

Noctis pinned Lightning to the bed with his body. "Your body of course."

"W-what? What are you doing?" The shocked princess gasped when her husband subdued her by tying her wrists to the bedpost. Unable to move her arms, she tried to wriggle out of her husband's hands, but he had already caged her with his iron arms.

"Noctis!" Lightning squeaked. "N-no, we can't d-do this! We have to get ready for the party!"

"What party? Oh right, the one you didn't want to go to?"

"Noctis! Stop, oh..." moaned Lightning as her husband silenced her protests with kisses to her stomach. The electrifying feel of his tongue trailing over her skin was enough to have her panting for more.

He settled his face over her breasts and stopped to listen to her heartbeat.

Lightning used this opportunity to kiss her husband on the head. His spiky hair tickled her face, eventually forcing her to crinkle her nose. Seeing her husband with his eyes closed, she couldn't help but smile at the sight. Her husband, who was supposedly the most terrifying being on the planet, looked nothing of the sort.

To be honest, he looked like a fragile child right then.

Not wanting to snap her husband out of his peaceful trance, Lightning carefully soothed his hair, only to stop at the sight of a figure at the door.

"Noctis, there's someone at the door."

"Huh?" Noctis sat straight up and addressed the manservant. "What do you want?"

"Pardon my interruption young master, there are guests waiting for you in palace hall."

"Understood, you may leave."

The servant bowed and prepared to leave.

"Thank you for your hard work," Lightning called out.

A blush crept onto the servant's face. For an imp of his station, he wasn't worthy of the princess's praises. The fact that his lady had thanked him—he who belonged at the bottom of the Infernal hierarchy—was enough to fill him with thoughts of vanity, pride and joy.

"Keep your pants on, _imp_." The prince replied harshly, offended by the servant's quick perusal of his wife.

"F-forgive me, my lord. I did not mean to, it's just that I find my lady to be the most beautiful woman in the universe."

In seconds, Noctis shot to his feet and held the servant up in the air by the throat. "I thought I told you to fucking leave. I don't need you to tell me something I already know."

The servant choked and tried to pry the prince's hand off his throat, but the prince's Archdemon strength proved to be too much.

"Noctis, drop him now!" Lightning shouted. She rushed over to her husband's side and warned him again. "Noctis... I'm serious. Drop. Him. Now."

Noctis held the imp in the air for a few more seconds, just for kicks, until he released him. "You're lucky. Run along, before I change my mind."

Praising his lady for saving his life, the servant left without further ado.

"Noctis, you have to learn to control your temper, you can't just murder, or try to murder everyone that looks or talks to me funny!"

Lightning flinched as her husband roared his response. "Who the hell do you think you are? I'm the prince, for God's sake! I do whatever the fuck I want to do. I don't need some little angel to tell me what to do!"

The prince balled his fists. No one ordered him around, ever.

Hurt by his words, Lightning managed to reply with as much intensity as her husband had used. "Who do I think I am? Well for one, I am your wife! If you haven't already accepted that fact in that thick skull of yours. Second, I can show just what this 'little angel' can do whenever her husband decides to be unreasonable."

Lightning didn't even flinch as her husband's fist missed her cheek by inches and completely destroyed the wall behind her.

Shaking uncontrollably, Lightning started to cry. Just when she thought that their relationship was starting to flourish, it had gone back to step one. It was too much. Being married off, living in the demon world, being separated from the angels, _everything_ was overwhelming.

"That's right, cry. It's the only thing you can fucking do," he spat angrily. His temper got the better of him.

"I hate you," she replied weakly, her heart in her throat. If only she could rewind time, she would go back to this morning when they were actually civil to each other. What happened? What had she done to elicit such anger from her husband?

"Yeah, yeah."

"G-get away from me."

"Love to," Noctis hissed. Without another word, he exited his room, slamming the door shut without remorse, unaware that he was abandoning his mate when she so desperately needed him the most.

Lightning slid to the floor, back against the wall, and sat for ages thinking about her marriage. Was a little happiness too much to ask for? Could she not, for a second, enjoy a moment with her husband without either of them sporadically erupting in anger?

God she hated crying. She wanted to be strong. She wanted to be the reputable angel princess, the pride of her people, but one look from her husband was enough to melt away her ice, cold facade.

She rubbed her dry cheeks and stared at the floor. Now that she thought about it, she had cried more throughout her marriage than she had ever in her life.

"E-excuse me..." came a timid voice from the doorway.

Lightning looked up and saw a servant girl, holding a black dress in her hands.

"Master Prompto requested that I deliver this to you, my lady."

"Please leave it on the bed," Lightning said gently.

"Of course, my lady. Also, Master Prompto asked me to relay this message to you. He said that the party starts exactly in an hour, and that he will never forgive you if you decide not to be in attendance."

Lightning smiled softly, picturing Prompto scolding her for not going to the party. Well, she supposed a party would remedy the bad mood she was in, and plus, it was also a perfect opportunity to relax for once.

"Thank you."

The servant girl smiled before exiting with a bow.

Taking the dress and putting it up against her chest for inspection, she found that the dress was exactly her size. Leave it to Prompto to know what her measurements were. _That pervert_, she thought with a smile.

Placing the dress off to the side, Lightning entered the shower and stood under the glorious hot water for a few minutes before drying herself off. Taming her wild hair with a blow-dryer, she checked her image in the mirror one last time before putting on the dress.

The clock read 12:10. The party had started ten minutes ago.

Lightning walked—or rather she limped—to the palace hall wearing a pair of godforsaken, uncomfortable as hell, high-heels.

Holding the door handles, she breathed deeply.

_Show time._

** ღ ღ ღ**

Noctis was in a bad mood. That was actually quite the understatement of the year. If looks could kill, everyone in the hall would have dropped dead.

The party did nothing, but irritate him even more. He cursed himself for losing control. Damn, but his infamous temper had lived up to its reputation. He had gone off and frightened his Light. Even now her calm, but terrified posture and expression haunted him.

To make things worse, he had seen her tears and laughed in spite of her.

"You look unhappy," a voice drew him from his thoughts.

"Why aren't you with your husband, Stella?" Noctis replied to the blond-haired demon female.

"We're not talking," Stella smiled, glancing over at her husband, who was standing in a corner with a drink in his hand and an unhappy grin on his face. Ignis shot her an angry look that probably meant she was going to get it. No matter, she brushed that thought away. "I haven't seen you in a while, how's life little cousin?"

"Just peachy," Noctis muttered his response.

"Really? I don't see why. Your wife is quite the angel, I've heard."

"Hence, the problem."

Stella darkened visibly. "You're not beating her, are you? Noctis! Look at me! You're not, are you?"

"No, I'm not," he replied. "Dude seriously, I'm not, stop giving me that look."

"Well we'll find out now won't we? Here she comes."

As if the whole room had become bewitched and entranced, all eyes turned to graceful angel, who seemed to be gliding down the staircase in her dark attire. Immediately, the room came to life. Every royal member of the Infernal hierarchy—the demon caste system—gathered around their princess to make her acquaintance.

"Tch..."

"Aww, are you jealous Noctis?"

"Not really, but are you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Look," Noctis inclined his head in the direction of his wife, and sure enough, Ignis was there. Noctis smirked when Stella's jaw dropped at the audacity of Ignis's kissing the angel princess's hand. He shook his head at his cousin's overreaction. Some things never changed.

"W-w-why!" Stella stammered. "That good for nothing! RRRGH!"

On the other side of the room, Lightning was overwhelmed by the amount of attention she was receiving. She was getting compliments from both male and female demons.

A tall, brown-haired man introduced himself to her as Ignis, one of her husband's closest advisers and friends. Lightning blushed hotly when he took her hand and brought it up to his lips.

As he continued to introduce himself, his hazel eyes seemed to glitter behind his sharp glasses. Out of all the demon males she had met, she would have to say Ignis was most graceful and intimidating. He was the sort of person that no one wanted to make an enemy out of.

"My lady," Ignis whispered softly.

At a loss for words, Lightning couldn't do anything, but nod her head. Damn, he was good looking. "How do you do?" She managed to squeak out.

"Will you honor me with a dance?"

Her heart plummeted in terror. "D-dance? I can't dance!"

"Just follow my lead, princess," Ignis pulled her to the dance floor and placed one hand on her back.

She tried to protest, but Ignis ignored her complaints. _Men!_ She thought. Why were all demon males so overbearing, cocky and arrogant... _And sexy?_

A few minutes into the song, Lightning was making Ignis pay. She had lost count now how many times she had purposely stomped on his foot with her razor sharp heels.

"Oops!" Lightning feigned innocence as she performed another 'misstep'.

Ignis winced. "Princess, your cooperation is recommended."

"But I _really_ am trying!"

Dance. Stomp. Wince. Curse.

"Princess!" Ignis raised his voice then lowered it. "This whole ordeal I am going through is purely for your benefit. Do you want to command Noctis's attention or not?"

"Oh."

Stomp.

Ignis closed his eyes and clenched his teeth.

"I'm sorry!" Lightning apologized profusely. "I really didn't mean to do it _that time_."

"That time_?_" Ignis inhaled, eyebrow twitching. "You mean to tell me that you were destroying my feet on purpose?"

"Heh... Maybe?"

Suddenly, a ragged scream broke out and sliced through the silence. The pained response was followed by the smell of coal, tar, and ash.

Lightning did a room scan and sensed a couple of uninvited, odd auras. Figures in dark hooded-cloaks emerged from the pillars of the hall and surrounded the party guests. Embedded in their cloaks were silver crosses.

"Shit," Ignis swore. "Humans, exorcists."

Each of the cloaked figures was holding guns in their hands. Demons that were struck by the bullets dissolved into thin air. It was a massacre. Left and right, demons were being vaporized by the flurry of bullets.

"What's happening, why is everyone disappearing?" She asked Ignis.

"The guns that they're using have bullets made of holy water, something an _inferior_ demon cannot tolerate. Holy water eats away at a demon's body like acid would a human's."

"When you say inferior..."

"Right, Noctis and I are exceptions."

Ignis quickly turned and smashed an approaching exorcist to ground with his fist. Lightning watched as the exorcist struggled to free his face from Ignis's hand. His struggle was pointless. Ignis's hand lit up in strange black flames, and the cloaked man's head exploded, leaving only a pool of blood in its place.

"Stay here, princess."

Lightning nodded and pressed her back against a pillar.

She cringed at Ignis's brutal method of killing. It was even worse than her husband's. While Noctis beheaded his enemies, Ignis blew them into pieces. Every being that he made contact with exploded on the spot. As a result, blood and body parts decorated every inch of the hall.

And if that wasn't bad enough, Ignis seemed to revel in the death of his victims. A maniacal smile was plastered on his face, and his tuxedo was bloodied.

He was definitely a force to be reckoned with and an expert at killing.

Meanwhile, Noctis was busy murdering the fools that had dared to trespass on his lands. He could sense their fear and saw their shock when they realized that their weapons had no effect on him. One of the exorcists tripped against a corpse while fleeing from him. Noctis went in for the kill, but another cloaked figure tackled him.

Noctis swiped lazily at the small man, but he easily avoided the blow.

_Impressive._

From the sleeves of his cloak, the man produced a deck of cards.

Noctis snorted, and then realized the man was a magician.

The mage threw down a few of his cards and the room lit up. An army of phantom soldiers emerged from his cards.

_So he's a summoner_, Noctis thought. _How annoying._

With one swipe of his blade, the phantoms were destroyed as quickly as they were summoned.

Ignis rush to his side, accompanied by Prompto.

"You okay?"

"We're not late, are we?" Prompto snickered, winking at his best friend. Their recent quarrel was just a distant memory now.

Noctis grinned. "I'm fine. What do you say we kill some annoying humans? Starting off with that one." He pointed to the card magic user.

"First one to kill him wins," Prompto laughed.

The card user, seeing that his situation was useless, turned and fled. Noctis, Ignis and Prompto were hot on his heels. Each of the demons enjoyed the thrill of hunting their prey. They were in bloodlust, nothing could stop them now.

The mage took to the skies by summoning a giant, glass eagle.

Prompto whistled. "This guy's good. Let's see... What I want is an RPG!"As he requested the grenade launcher materialized at his shoulder. "Bang!" He shouted as the rocket made contact with eagle and exploded.

The exorcist fell to the floor, his cloak burned off.

"Christ," Prompto swore as he examined the unconscious human. The boy had sandy blond hair so light it almost looked white. "He's just a kid."

Noctis paused. "So?"

"This is strange," said Ignis. "Why would the humans attack us now, and why send such amateurs? It's obvious that the exorcists that attacked us had no idea that we were immune to their weapons. Perhaps we should interrogate the boy."

"Wake up!" Noctis shook the human boy.

The boy stirred awake. When he realized he had been compromised, he smiled. He had done his job.

"What the hell are you smiling at? You think this is funny?"

"Fuck you, demon," he spat.

Noctis laughed and punched him in the gut. "I like this kid."

"Ugh..." the boy rolled and groaned in pain. "You damn..."

"Talk," Ignis ordered.

The boy started to laugh, again.

"Do you thi—"

"Oh shut up, you stupid demons. Don't you see? I won."

"What the fuck does that mean?"

"I'll tell you, but first answer me this. If all three of you are here, then who's with the princess?"

"SHIT!" Prompto was the first one to react. Without replying he shot to his feet and rushed back to the party hall, but Noctis was already ahead of him.

Watching the two demons retreat, the boy laughed at the demon with glasses.

"I am getting irritated by your laughter," Ignis replied.

"You're pretty stupid, too you know?" The boy smiled and revealed a card that he had been hiding. "See ya." Ignis moved to grab the boy, but he had already vanished. The card he used must have been a teleportation card.

"Well played," Ignis applauded.

Back at the palace, Prompto and Noctis were in disarray.

The boy's words were true; Lightning was gone. They had taken her.

Noctis yelled angrily and punched the floor, causing it to crack. The exorcists' sights had been set on his wife, not the massacre of demons. That had merely been a distraction, and then the card user had led them away, only to have his cohorts kidnap his unprotected wife.

Damn, for an inferior third race, the humans had played all of the right cards tonight.

No one would have expected them to make a move.

Noctis cursed. He could feel the mental link he shared with his wife expanding and moving further away from. He could also sense her fear and confusion.

From the corner of his eyes, he saw a slight movement. Noctis walked over to the human that had tripped on a corpse earlier. He lifted the hood from the human's face. The human was a young girl, who looked to be the same age as the card user. Her hair was long and white like snow. He couldn't tell what color her eyes were because they were closed.

"What are you going to do with her?"

"I'm going to make her talk."

"I see."

Ignis walked into the hall. "The card user escaped"

Prompto frowned and motioned to the girl. "I guess she's our only intel on the whereabouts of the exorcists' headquarters."

Noctis growled. "Prompto, I want you to call all of your contacts, every single spy and tracker. Notify all of the demon lords about the situation. Have the demon army militarize as well. Ignis, assemble every assassin at your disposal and have them infiltrate the human's lands. I want my wife back. No, I _will _have her back."

"Right."

"What about the human girl?" Ignis asked.

"Take her to the dungeons and chain her up."

"All right."

Noctis closed his eyes and tried to search for the connection he had with his wife. _Where are you?_ The distance between them had grown again.

_I'll find you my lady,_ he promised. _Just wait._

** ღ ღ ღ**

A/N: Sorry for the wait! I'm really pre-occupied with school right now. This chapter was a bit rushed, but everything will make sense, if it already doesn't. So I guess the main conflict/crisis of the story has appeared. Humans vs. demons, now that should be an interesting battle! And poor Light, what's going to happen?

I'll try to update when I can, but it doesn't look likely that I'll be able to anytime soon. Stupid college, and exams :(

**Matrimony** has 8500 hits! ZOMG you guys are the best! Don't forget to review!


	7. Cute and Cuddly

**Matrimony**

A/N: HOLY SHEEZ! Many thanks to: **Henrietta Skylink, Cam277, Yuki Minamoto, Lynn, Skye8055, zeroblade63, Oblivion Star Seeker, Kingu, Loveless Melody, jasmine6653, ZoMg1010, Silver-MemoryKeeper, Gkwnsgh5, MelodiusNocturn, MonsterKiwi, Deviltrigger Dante, SparklesANuni96, 2 Sided coiN, yonomi, Dark angel, nisu-chan25, NoctLightXIII, Lightis, FarronCaelum, snowlily, shadow heart, FeatherBerry, lovetaryn, MassMurderer, 4000kills, MidnightReader1!**

**Chapter 7: Cute and Cuddly**

In a matter of seconds, the terrain changed from smooth to rough and bumpy. Lightning strained her neck to test the limitations on her blindfold, but found—much to her dismay—that her captors hadn't taken any chances. The scratchy, cloth bag was fastened onto her neck tighter than a dog collar.

She had lost all sense of time. She could have been traveling for hours now, and she wouldn't have been able to tell.

The only reason she knew that she wasn't alone in the back seat was because she could hear the steady heartbeat of the human next to her. From his erratic breathing patterns, she inferred that he was a male, a big one at that.

A loud screech interrupted her thoughts. The car skidded to a nasty stop. Had it not been for the enormous arm holding her back, she probably would have been flattened against the windshield.

"That was horrible brake. I'm driving next time." She heard the human next to her retort. His voice was deep, and his words were guttural.

"Oh shut up, your fat ass won't fit in the driver's seat," answered the second human, who she assumed was the driver.

"Get out," this time his words were directed at her.

Lightning had no idea how exactly she was to "get out" when she was blind-folded and fasted to her seat by a seat-belt.

"You have to untie her you dumb ass! Jesus."

"I knew that! Get out of my way," Lightning felt a pair of arms grab her shoulder and pull her out of the back seat. She didn't, however, expect the weather to be ice-cold, and wait, was it actually snowing or was that her imagination?

Unless her captors had magically fast-forwarded to winter, there was no way it could be snowing. But seeing that her every step resulted in an almost near-slip, she safely assumed that it was snowing, which was ridiculous because it was summer.

"Hurry, you don't want the demons finding us. God knows they're angry as they are. If they find us we'll have bigger problems to worry about than you having to tie your shoes!"

"Good point. Did you see how easily the prince took out our guys? Those were some of our elites, but he actually looked bored while he killed them. If there's anyone to worry about it's him, and to think that we have his wife in our possession, we must be nuts!"

"Yeah," the second human agreed.

Lightning smiled. _That's my husband you're talking about, idiots, and I bet he's on his way._

Still blind, she was hesitant about her every step, so the large human nudged her along carefully. It wouldn't be good for her to lose her footing, especially when they were on a dock. One slip and she'd fall into the freezing waters below.

A large pair of hands pushed her in the right direction until they came to a stop.

"Who's there?" She heard someone whisper.

"It's us, we've brought the princess."

"Password?"

"Seriously?"

"Password."

"The world ends with us," the smaller human muttered.

With a sharp, raucous sound, the door slid open. Once again, Lightning was pushed forward. Much to her comfort, the weather had gone from chilly to warm. She was guided to a well lit room and forced to sit in a metal chair.

The bag was taken off of her head, and she was greeted by lights so bright that she thought her eyes would burst from overexposure. It took her a few minutes to recover from the initial surge of light before she could see where exactly she was.

Her prediction had been correct. She was in a secluded warehouse somewhere out on a pier or dock, which also meant that she was close to the ocean and a million or more miles away from demon and angel lands.

Her eyes landed on a burly figure, the human that had been with her throughout the car ride. He was enormous, such that she found it hard to believe that he had actually managed to fit in the back seat with her. The man's belly bounced back and forth every time he took a breath, and it seemed like the ground would open up and swallow him at any moment from those massive steps he took.

He didn't, however, look mean or intimidating. In fact, he was smiling at her.

"Nngh," she groaned, rubbing the pain from her eyes. "Where am I?"

The man merely chuckled. "Can't tell ya."

Lightning scowled and turned her cheek.

"You're very pretty, ya know? Has anyone told you that? I can see why the prince chose you as his bride."

She should have been delighted by his flattering words, but she wasn't. "Thanks, but I'm afraid you've been sorely mislead. Our union was not one of our mutual liking, it was an arranged marriage, pure business."

"Pity."

"Yeah, yeah," she brushed off his remark. "Could you untie me? These chains are irritating as hell."

"Sorry," he shook his head. "Orders."

"Well that's a problem," Lightning sighed. "I guess I just have too..." Harnessing a wee bit of her angelic powers, she tugged on her hand cuffs. They snapped off like twigs. "That's better," she rubbed her wrists.

"Shit!" The fat human was on his feet in a matter of seconds, disbelief and shock plastered on his face. "Oh God damn it all! HEL—"

_Thwack_!

Taking a swift blow to the head, the human dropped to the floor instantaneously. He lay there unmoving, only the rising and falling of his belly showed that he was still alive.

"You just had to go and call for help. This could have been so much easier for both of us if you had just shut up," Lightning muttered. What's done was done. She maneuvered around the man's big body and cautiously peered out of the cellar door.

No one, not a soul, was around.

The dark hallways vaguely reminded her of her husband's palace. The only difference was that these hallways were narrow and bland, while her palace's hallways were wide and lavishly decorated with portraits.

Lightning lit the hallway with angelic lights. She was seriously getting tired of the color black. If she got out of this place, she swore she herself would re-paint the demon palace to a more socially acceptable color such as white. She loved white, after all.

**BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!**

The hallways lit up red, and the alarms blared.

_No!_ Lightning groaned. The humans knew she was missing.

Panicked voices drew closer to her. There was no place to hide. She would either have to fight or run, and her being the angel that she was decided to go with the latter. Better run than fight, she'd always say.

"Hey stop right there!" shouted a human guard.

_Yeah right, pal. _She rolled her eyes and took off in the opposite direction, running through a dozen or more corridors. For a warehouse in the middle of nowhere, this place was enormous. Then it hit her. How stupid could she get? Why not just blast a hole in the roof and fly out?

Aiming her hand at the ceiling, she shot a jet of energy. To her dismay, it bounced off the ceiling and blew a hole in one of the walls. Clever humans, she thought. They had warded the roof so that she wouldn't be able to escape by flight.

Two guards popped out of a doorway and grabbed her arms, pulling her to the floor.

Lightning recovered from her surprise and flung the enormous, armed men through the cement walls like rag dolls. The two men writhed on the floor, obviously not expecting the slim princess to lift people three times her weight.

Three more men came rushing at her. And like earlier, they were easily dispatched.

Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Lightning sighed. Fighting in a damn dress was inconvenient. Her movements were limited; she couldn't turn as quick as she wanted to. Consequently, she had a bruise on her cheek, where a guard had gotten a pre-emptive strike.

"Impressive."

Lightning stiffened and pressed her back against the wall.

A white-haired boy emerged from the shadows. He shuffled a deck of cards gracefully and skillfully as if the habit had become second nature.

Sensing the threat posed by the boy, she shifted her feet, taking off her heels. Only God knew why she hadn't discarded them earlier.

"Oh," the boy grinned wolfishly. "You think you can take me?"

"Enough talk," Lightning growled and charged at the boy with her wings flaring, hoping that light from her wings would catch the boy off balance. For a second, the boy was stunned and held his arms up to shield his face from the light.

A second was all she needed, she tackled the boy, sending him flying into a wall. However, the results weren't. Centimeters from impact, the boy froze in mid-air. Lightning couldn't believe what she was seeing. The boy should have been squashed like a pancake, but he wasn't. He was levitating!

"Surprised?" he taunted, in his hand was a green-colored card. "You should be."

Next, he traded the green card for a red one. No sooner had he done so, the ground from underneath her exploded. Lightning went tumbling backwards down the hallway, scraping her body on all of the rubble and ruining her dress in the process.

She shot to her feet and sent a orb of light at the boy. Just as she had expected, he switched his card once more. This time he produced a blue card from his deck. She watched as the orb reflected off the barrier protecting him. Her theory was confirmed. His red card was for offensive spells, whereas the green and blue cards were for support and defensive spells.

_Red! _Lightning quickly jumped out of the way as another chunk of the floor exploded. _Now! _She urged herself and ran straight for the boy. If her theory was correct then the boy would have to wait another ten seconds before switching to a different card.

A look of panic flashed across his face. She was right; he couldn't use a defensive card.

"Gotcha," she called out as she struck the boy on the neck, knocking him out. He dropped to the floor, his cards scattering everywhere.

Exhausted, the princess made a move for one of the doors when a painful jolt pierced her heart. It felt as if someone was crushing her heart in their hand. She fell to the floor and coughed uncontrollably. Beads of sweat trickled down her forehead. She tried to breath, but that only worsened the pain.

She screamed raggedly as the pain spread to other parts of her body. _Kill me_, she thought weakly. Her lungs were depleted of air and her voice had fled from her. She couldn't hear a thing, but she knew that she was screaming.

The pain was indescribable. She had quite vaguely recalled the time when she as a child had burned herself in an accident while playing in the kitchen. She had cried after a frying pan had grazed her shoulder and believed that getting burned was the worst, but that changed.

Whatever it was she was currently inflicted with was the worst.

Her eyes refused to stay open, and her vision refused to stay clear.

For what seemed like a long time, she lay on the floor, unable to hear or see anything. Quite faintly, she could feel herself being lifted up by a pair of strong arms. She could barely make out the figures of the human guards that were dragging her. Perhaps she was hallucinating, perhaps she wasn't.

All she knew was that she felt like crap, or "shit" as her husband would rudely put it.

** ღ ღ ღ**

"Talk."

No reply.

Noctis balled his fists and slammed the human girl against the wall. She remained silent, unwilling to comply with his demands. Her white her was sprawled across her back messily. Agony and fear flashed across her face. There was only so much pain one could take.

"I SAID TALK!" Noctis roared angrily. His desire to kill was quickly elevating. On issues where his wife was concerned, he didn't play around. The human girl had learned that the hard way, yet she still refused to cooperate.

"Noctis, stop."

The prince dropped the human girl and addressed Ignis, who was at the door holding a stack of papers.

"Why? Why should I stop?"

"Because she's deaf and mute."

"What?" Shocked, Noctis examined the unconscious girl. "How do you know?'

"I did some research."

"Elaborate."

Ignis stuffed his hands in the pockets of his suit. "I did a background check on this particular human. Her name is Luna Sola. She's a descendant of the human, High King Exalthier. Her father, who just recently passed, was the king of humans."

"Then that would make her a princess."

"Precisely."

"What the hell is a human princess doing, going around on sabotage missions?"

"Patience," Ignis chided and held out a picture of a white-haired boy. "You remember this kid?"

"How could I forget the little prick?"

"Well, his name is Ace: _codename_ 'Card'. During the reign of the King Sola, Card was a general in the human military. His objective, however, was to protect the princess. Card was—and still is—a master Red Mage, who uses a deck of cards to channel his ability power."

Quite tired of human history, Noctis sighed.

Ignis continued, "The thing about King Sola is that he was murdered. As a result, the human race is a mess; the humans are at civil war, with each of Sola's heirs making claims for the throne. There are five human princes, four of which are waging war. The fifth is the one we have to prioritize. He's the clever one."

"He's waiting for the rest to kill each other off, or at least weaken each other," Noctis stated.

"Exactly," Ignis nodded. "The fifth prince's name is Franz Wolfstein Sola. He's the one who orchestrated my lady, Lightning's kidnapping. He also exploited Card's weakness and used it against him."

"I don't get it."

"The reason the human princess is mute and deaf is because she's had her voice and hearing taken from her by Franz. Card believes that Franz has the princess's voice and hearing; therefore, has to obey anything that Franz decrees, in order to get them back. However, what Card doesn't know is that Franz doesn't have the princess's voice or hearing. Franz casted the spells, _silence_ and _disable_ on the princess, hence the only way for her to return to normal is through healing."

"I see... So the loyal bodyguard is doing things against his will for the sake of his princess, and he doesn't know he's being jipped?" Noctis replied. "Well now, don't I feel like an asshole?"

"Why?"

"I just spent a damn week torturing and interrogating an incapacitated girl, whose noble knight is taking orders from a blackmailing son of a bitch ."

"You didn't know."

Noctis shook his head. "So why did this fucker, Franz take my wife?"

"Because he's—as you put it—a blackmailing son of a bitch. What better way to secure the throne than to coerce the demon prince into working for you? With the you doing his bidding, Franz would have no worries about facing opposition."

"What makes him think I'd follow his orders? He's a fucking human. He's unfit to kiss the ground I walk on."

"If he held a knife to your wife's throat, would he command your attention then?"

Noctis growled, the very thought agitating him.

"That's what I thought."

"I want him, alive," Noctis ordered. "I'm going to make him squeal like the bitch he is and then, I'm going to shred him into pieces. He's going to regret the day he fucked with me, I'll make sure of that."

"As great as that sounds, we're going to put that on hold for now. We've yet to find where Franz is located. My men have scouted all possible places, but have come up short in their expeditions."

"God damn it! My wife is out there, alone! God knows what the fuck they're doing to her!" Enraged, the young prince took out a chunk of the wall with a punch. "I swear if they touch her... I-I'll fucking..."

Ignis stepped backwards, unnerved by the prince's temper. "Noct, you really have to stop breaking the walls when you get angry. It's not healthy for the palace."

"SHIT!" Noctis cursed again, voice weakening. "Just last week, I told her to go fuck herself. I didn't mean it, but I get so angry when she gives her attention to other people."

"You told her to go fuck herself? You must've been out of your mind."

"I didn't exactly tell her to do it; It was inferred. I fucked up big time... I just want her back."

"Noct, you can't keep treating her like a doll. She has her needs and wants, too. The more you keep her on a tighter leash, the more she'll resent you. Even the purest of angels like her have limitations and breaking points."

"I know!" Noctis replied angrily. "I just can't help it..."

"You love her, don't you?"

Noctis stiffened and looked away, staring at a portrait of his ancestor, the devil Lucifer. In the picture, Lucifer was refined and elegant, yet his eyes hinted a different disposition, a malicious one. Lucifer would be rolling in his grave, if he could see how weak he had become.

"Find her," was all Noctis said. Pulling the prison bars open, he walked up the stone stairway and exited the dark dungeon.

Watching the retreating figure of the prince, Ignis sighed. His irritation only heightened when Prompto came bouncing down the stairs, his usual lazy grin on his face.

"Yo gay boy!"

Ignis cringed at Prompto's inappropriate addressing of his person. "What do you want?"

"I don't know, you tell me. You called me here," Prompto smiled, which greatly annoyed Ignis. Didn't the fool see the severity of their current predicament? Their princess was missing, kidnapped, yet he had the audacity to joke around like a child. Had he not witnessed Prompto's mastery of weaponry, Ignis would never have believed he was an Archdemon.

Honestly, the title of "Archdemon" was only given to a select few; those with at least an ounce of the demon, Lucifer's blood were considered Archdemons. However, while he and Prompto were minor Archdemons, Noctis was _the_ Archdemon. With the exception of his father, Noctis was the only demon who had all of Lucifer's blood running through his veins.

"Hey," Prompto interrupted. "What the hell's up with Noctis, he looked like he was about to cry. How is that remotely possible?"

"That's not important right now, come here."

"What do you want me to do?"

"Wake her up," Ignis ordered, pointing at the human princess. "Interrogate her and make her reveal the whereabouts of Franz Sola."

"That's it?"

"It's not as easy as you think. She's deaf and mute."

"Piece of cake."

"Your confidence is astounding. Let's see if you can back up that inflated ego of yours."

Prompto smiled. "All right gay boy, give me two hours."

"Hn," Ignis scoffed, adjusting his glasses with his index finger. "Oh and before I leave, I would like to set something straight"

"Yeah, I'm listening."

"I'm married, you're not. Who's the gay boy, again? Oh yes, that would be _you_."

"W-ha? Uh?" Prompto sputtered, trying to do some damage control, trying to form some sort of a comeback. He always got the last word; it was preposterous to let anyone else have it.

"I believe the word you're looking for is..." Ignis turned to leave. "Owned."

"Douche-bag." The blond mumbled unhappily.

"I heard that," Ignis's voice resonated from the top of the dungeon stairs.

"Bitch."

** ღ ღ ღ**

When would the pain end? Lightning curled into a ball and banged her fists against her head. An hour had passed since she had woken up in a prisoner's chamber and still the white-hot searing pain had not receded. If possible, it only intensified.

Her frail, angelic body was going into shock. The sad thing was she knew what was happening, but had no authority or power to prevent it. Her body was shutting down due to her prolonged separation from her husband.

She cursed and sucked in a breath. _If you're going to shut down, shut down. Don't make this painful for me. _She pleaded to her body.

The door of her prison room swung open, and a man of majestic stature glided into the room with his cape fluttering behind him. He was clad in knight-like attire with silver armor, battle grieves and gauntlets. An enormous rapier hung at his side; it was delicate, but deadly.

"My, my. What do we have here? An angel princess? Prince Noctis's bride? What an interesting catch," the man taunted mockingly. Noticing the princess's weak and feral position on the floor, he snickered. "I see you've made yourself home. What a good girl, you know exactly where you belong."

Lightning tried to curse at the human, but her insults died in her throat. She was just too terribly weak to project any sorts of words from her mouth. That, however, didn't stop her from thinking murderous thoughts about the man.

"Don't give me that look, you stupid bitch!" The human roared angrily and kicked her in the stomach.

The kick only added to her pain. Lightning cried out silently and clenched her teeth.

"That's right. It hurts doesn't it? That's what you deserve, you little angel whore. Your husband isn't here to save you, is he?"

For many long minutes, she had to endure the foul man's curses and beating. By the time he was finished, she didn't think there was a part of her body that he hadn't bruised.

A small figure walked into the room.

"Ace, how nice of you to join us. You're not too badly injured are you? I mean come on, she's just a woman!"

The white-haired boy, Ace darkened at the knight's taunt, "Franz."

"Isn't this magnificent?" Franz boasted, nudging the angel princess with his foot. "Look how she writhes beneath me as if my very presence overwhelms her. Isn't she a good submissive bitch?"

"There's nothing prideful about beating a helpless woman, you worm."

"I'd watch my tongue if I were you Ace. There's only so much I'm willing to tolerate. Remember who's in command here, more importantly, remember whose welfare is at stake." The human prince growled. "Push my buttons one more time, and it's to hell and back for Luna."

"You wouldn't dare," Ace shouted angrily.

"Oh," Franz revealed his sharp teeth. "Why don't you try me?"

Ace balled his fists at his sides, but remained silent. He switched his attention to the angel princess and was surprised by her weakened state. Surely, this was joke. There was no way in hell, an oaf like Franz could defeat her. A woman, as skilled as her, would have destroyed him in seconds.

A knocking on the door snapped him out his thoughts.

"Enter."

A battered exorcist limped into the room, accompanied by a couple others, "My lord, the rest of the company has returned."

Ace shot to his feet, "Where's Luna?"

The exorcist avoided making eye contact and stayed silent, not wanting to be the bearer of ill news. Ace grabbed the man by his robes. "I asked you a question! Where is she?"

Only at the risk of losing his life did the exorcist talk, "S-she was captured in the raid. The demons have taken her prisoner."

"What?" Ace yelled. "You're telling me, they've had her for a week now?"

"Y-yes, my lord."

"Why didn't you go back for her!" Ace slapped a red card against the man's face.

The exorcist, knowing quite well what the red card did, cried out for mercy. "P-p-please! Y-you know how terrifying those demons are. They were tearing us apart left and right! I was powerless!"

"Useless," spat the boy general. The red card lit up.

"NO! P-PLEASE!"

"Ace stop," Franz commanded, shoving the boy away from the relieved exorcist. "As much as I'd love to punish this insolent fool for his failure, we have more important things to do."

Ace released the exorcist, "Get out of my sight."

The man, along with his company, rushed out of the room.

Lightning, who up until that point had been silent, couldn't hold in her agony any longer. As another bout of pain inflicted her, she gritted her teeth then let loose a howl, a sound so ragged and raw that the humans could no longer ignore her presence.

"What are you doing to her?" Ace questioned.

Franz rose a brow, "Nothing."

Lightning started to glow. Soon her whole body was engulfed in white light. The more she lit up, the more the pain amplified. Franz and Ace shielded their eyes, cursing as the light burned their skins.

_I'm dying,_ she thought. _It's time_. As her pain reached its pinnacle, two bright orbs slowly emerged from her body.

Then suddenly the room returned to its normal shade of black.

Lightning breathed heavily. She thanked her forefathers in heaven as the pain vanished. Looking around, she found herself in a new predicament. As her sight slowly returned to her, she froze as her eyes landed upon two new intruders.

_This can't be... We never..._

It had to be an illusion.

Nestled between her bosom were two infants, one a boy the other a girl. Both were naked as the day they were born, and both had little tufts of blue hair on their heads.

She couldn't believe it. These cute little children, these cute, adorable, cuddly little twins... Were hers.

It shouldn't have been possible.

But it was.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Their crying confirmed it.

** ღ ღ ღ**

A/N: Hey guys, thanks for reading this! You guys are amazing as always and sexier than ever! :]

So here's what's going on right now:

College** FTL**  
Homework **FTL**  
Research Paper + Exams **FTL  
**Slow updates **MEGA FTL  
**  
11k hits **FTW  
**Awesome reviewers **MEGA FTW  
**Almost summer break **SMEGMA FTW**

Hahahaha, so anyways. Thanks for reviewing. I'll try to update as soon as possible ^_^


	8. A Display of Power

**Matrimony**

A/N: **nisu-chan25, Silver-MemoryKeeper, lovetaryn, Oblivion Star Seeker, Henrietta Skylink, MassMurderer, Yuki Minamoto, 4000kills, jasmine6653, MidnightReader1, madzuk, Skye8055, snowlily, Forks, vix vik, TigerRaiken, Lightis, ashe, 2 Sided CoiN, quasiunafantasia, MonsterKiwi, Dark angel, ZoMg1010, Lynn, SparklesANuni96, Fishcake-kun, Cam277, Gkwnsgh5, FarronCaelum, NoctLightXIII, FightingDreamer001, Kingu, Simply Serey, leon-zack, yonomi.  
**Thanks to my awesome reviewers as always. Matrimony has 15k hits!

**Chapter 8: A Display of Power**

"Well isn't this quite a turn of events?"

"No! Let them go!" Lightning shrieked as her babies were whisked away from her. "Give them back!" Watching her twins in the arms of the human bastard Franz was enough to have her screaming for his blood.

The poor angel mother could do nothing but watch helplessly as he juggled a knife, erstwhile holding her baby boy nearby.

"Now now, let's not curse, shall we?" Franz taunted condescendingly. "We don't want these children to grow up with bad manners, do we? I'd have to say, however, that this is quite a treat."

"I swear, I'll kill you," Lightning spat. Her eyes were filled with hatred. If her body wasn't in its current battered state, she would have torn him to shreds.

Franz feigned dropping the knife. It came inches away from embedding itself from the baby boy's unblemished skin before he snatched it back.

"Oops," he smiled, loving the unspeakable horror displayed across the angel princess's face. A mother's love was truly touching indeed.

"P-please," Lightning spoke in broken sobs. It was a surprise she could speak after that devastating experience. The image of the knife closing in on her son was burned into her mind. "I'll do anything you want. Please... Let my children go."

"Now we're talking!" Franz tossed the knife aside, and held the twins in each arm. "You might not know this, but I'm quite a benevolent man. I have honor; therefore, I'm going to make a deal with you."

"To hell with you."

"Oh shit!" Franz motioned that he was going to drop the baby girl.

"Wait!" Lightning cried out, her heart nearly bursting from her chest. "I'm listening."

"Good. My God, hold them," Franz ordered shoving her children at her. "They're heavy."

Lightning gladly accepted her children, and held them to her, shielding them from Franz.

"Oh please, I could take them away whenever I want," Franz chuckled. "I'm allowing you to spend some time with them, you might not see them again after all. Well... that depends on how you act these next few weeks. If you please me, I'll give them back to you, if you don't they're dead. Simple, right?"

Lightning merely nodded. She was in no position to comprise, especially with her body as physically drained as it was now. She would need a good month to recover her strength, until then she'd have to bide her time.

"Stand up," Franz grabbed her by the arm.

Lightning stood up slowly. The act was painful. Her legs refused to budge, even more so with her twins weighing her down, but she managed.

"While I figure out a way to kill that atrocious husband of yours, in case he comes looking for you, I want you to stay put in this room," Franz took her to a dark cell. "I can't have you running off with the twins now can I? You're a crucial piece in my ploy."

The cell was dirtier than dirt. Things stirred in the dark corners. Light was non-existent, but she didn't care, she had her twins and that was all that mattered.

Franz shoved her. She made sure to fall on her back so that her babies were unharmed.

"Stay here," Franz warned. "If you run off, I will find you." He smirked, "Don't glare at me like that, it doesn't suit you."

Lightning watched Franz walk away. The door slammed shut, encasing her in total darkness.

One of her twins started to cry.

"Shh," Lightning cooed and kissed his stomach. "Shh... Lucien there's a good boy. Mama's here." Lightning touched her baby girl. "Don't cry Lucia... Everything's going to be fine, papa will rescue us, and we'll all go home together."

Lightning closed her eyes. She prayed she was right. Everything would be fine... Right?

_Don't worry Lucien... Lucia. Papa will come._

**ღ ღ ღ**

There are three races that inhabit the large continent of Aria. The Angels, the first group to settle on Aria, are known for their diplomatic, peaceful ways. Their lands are called_ Heaven. _The second race was established not too long after the arrival of the Angels. An archangel named Lucifer detested peace and tolerance. He wanted to conquer and expand. Driven by his ambition, Lucifer denied his heritage and broke away from the angels, taking with him his circle of friends. The race he created was then called the Demons, whose lands are called _Hell._

For years the two races battled for control of Aria. Though the angels were reluctant at first, the slaughter of their first leader by Lucifer gave them more than enough reason to retaliate.

The demons with their mastery of assassination and combat overwhelmed the angels in battle, but the angels with their knowledge of resurrection and healing would always return to the fight with fresh numbers

As war between the races persisted, an inferior race developed. They were called humans, a race with no special talent. A mortal race whose people withered with time, whereas angels and demons retained their youth forever. They were a race whose only asset was its reproductive ability. Their lands were called _Earth_. In a few years, the human race managed to overtake the angels as the most populous race. From then on they multiplied, occupying 70% of Aria's lands and forcing demons and angels to live in the lands that were leftover.

The humans were intelligent creatures. They never went to war with either the demons or the angels, no matter how much they were baited. With their level of skill in combat, they would have been slaughtered so they waited for the demons to angels to weaken each other, and occupied their time preparing for war with both races.

What the humans never factored into their war plans was peace between the demon and angel race. After years of endless bloodshed, the two hostile races agreed to peace through the union of the demon prince and angel princess.

To the human mindset, their marriage was a disaster and something had to be done. And just when things couldn't have gone more worse for the humans, their leader King Sola was assassinated. The perpetrator escaped and the humans fell into civil war.

For the humans, the cards were not playing in their favor.

Of course, however, for the arch-demon Prompto, human grievances were the last things on his mind. Right now, he had priceless intel that Noctis would shit bricks for—AKA he had the location of Claire's whereabouts.

After warming up to the human princess Luna, he had managed to persuade her to reveal the location of the exorcists. To his surprise, she had given him every bit of intel that she had without a hint of reluctance. Of course her being mute meant that she had to write down everything for him. It had been too easy, he felt like she was deceiving him, but he was the best at detecting lies, and he had not sensed any ill intent from her.

With that set, he was on his way to Noctis's room so that he could finally relieve his friend of his worries. The sooner they rescued Claire, the sooner Noctis would stop acting like an idiot and start acting like—well Noctis, duh.

Entering the throne room, he found Noctis sitting on the throne lazily with his eyes closed, and his elbow propped up against the arm of the chair. It was obvious he was deep in thought, and it was even more obvious that his thoughts were about Claire.

"Yo Noct I got some shit that you're going to want to hear."

"Leave me alone," came the silent response.

"I know where Claire is," Prompto taunted. The minute those words left his mouth, Noctis sat upright. Boy. That was easy. "But if you want me to come back later, well I guess I gotta come back later then."

"Stay," Noctis ordered, his voice desperate. "What do you know about Light."

"She's been taken to deep into the heart of Earth. A city called Eden, surrounded by casinos and skyscrapers. Its kind of like Hell, but filled with faggots, err I mean humans. There's a place in Eden called Square's warehouse. Its the only place in the city that juts into the ocean. From what Luna told me, the humans are holding Claire there."

"Well then what the fuck are we waiting for," Noctis stood and dusted himself off.

"It's not that simple. We can't get passed the human borders without authorization from one of the human leaders. Unless you want to start a war with the humans, we have to find another way in."

"Does it look like I care? If it's war they want then its war I'll give them."

"Well... I guess if they're smart, they'll let you go through. I mean which human is stupid enough to slap on a war with the demons on top of their own civil war?"

"Actually," Ignis intruded. "I've already received authorization to enter human lands."

"Motherfuck..." Prompto muttered under his breath. The douchebag gay boy was always one step ahead of him. Unacceptable!

_Last Friday night yeah we danced on tabletops and we took too many..._

"Hold on I gotta take this," Prompto rummaged his pockets for his phone and answered. "Speak to me"

"Prompto..." came the voice on the other line.

"Hey Claire! How've you bee... WHAAAA—" Prompto's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. The voice of his baby sister was as clear as day. He couldn't believe it. It was really her on the other line.

The mere mention of Light's name riled Noctis. The prince snatched the phone from his blond-haired friend and spoke into the phone. "Light! Is that you? Light talk to me baby."

"N-noctis..." her words came in heart-wrenching sobs. "I miss you, I c-can't talk too long or else they might find me. Please Noctis, I'm sorry for upsetting you, but I can't stand being without you... P-please _forgive _me."

"Light listen to me, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said those things to you. I_ love_ you, I won't deny it any longer. I... love you..."

Noctis listened silently as his words earned him a fresh round of sobs. He could hear Lightning crying, and it broke his heart.

"N-n-noctis. I'm going to be at a human bar called _7th Heaven _a week from now, alone. It's the only chance I'll have. Please come..."

"I will, I promise. Light what was that noise?" Noctis questioned, his voice tainted with worry.

"T-they found me, I have to go! N-no! Stop it!"

Noctis choked. The sound of his wife's bloodcurdling shriek set his teeth on edge.

The phone went silent before a rustling was heard. In the background, Noctis could hear his wife being whisked away.

"Prince Noctis I presume?" A new voice answered. "What an honor to finally make your acquaintance. Your whore of wife has told me so much about you. I am a human that you know as Fran—"

"You little bastard. You're a dead man. I swear if you've touched my wife, I will hunt you down!" Noctis roared.

"Touch?" Franz chuckled. "Oh my dear demon. I've done more than just 'touch' your lovely little whore. Actually, I'm surprised she can endure more than an hour without dropping to her knees and begging for my cock."

The imagery stung. Noctis replied vehemently, "You insolent human, do you really believe that I won't kill you, that you're untouchable? Mark my fucking words you son of a bitch, I will kill you."

"Well, you'd have to find me first, which that itself is impossible, and you foolishly assume that you can best me in combat. I've heard of your skills and feats on the battlefield and I have to say, I'm not impressed," Franz mocked. "The demon race must have lowered their standards for picking their leader."

"I'm coming for you, bitch." Noctis swore. With those words, he crushed the phone in his hand.

"HEY YO NOCT!" Prompto squealed, diving at the floor in an attempt to salvage the remaining pieces of his cell phone.

"Start the car," Noctis ordered Ignis.

"Where are we going?" Prompto questioned. "H-hey! I'm coming, too!"

The three arch-demons rushed toward the small luxury car parked outside of the palace gates. Ignis stomped on the gas pedal as soon as the others were in. Noctis sat in the passenger's seat, and stared out the window, lost once again in morbid thoughts. He replayed various scenes involving Franz, each a different, horrid way to kill him as painfully as possible.

His thoughts brought him some comfort, but he wasn't satisfied. He would never be satiated until he had Franz's head in his collection of many others.

"One question," Prompto cut in, breaking the silence.

Ignis responded, quite frustrated, "Can you not go for an hour without opening that mouth of yours?"

"Uh NO," Prompto answered. "Anyways... Before I was so RUDELY interrupted—faggot—I wanted to ask where the hell we're going. Don't give me that look Ignis, I'm pretty sure you don't know either."

He hated to admit it, but Prompto had a point. Ignis turned his head to the side and nudged the prince, "Where am I supposed to drive to?"

Noctis shrugged and returned to his thoughts.

"See! Even Noctis doesn't know, and he's the one who arranged this road trip," Prompto whined.

The car halted. Ignis couldn't take it anymore. His frustration was at the apex of tolerance. He turned and proceeded, with one hand, to beat the immature blond.

"HEY! OW! MOTH—OWW! THAT ONE REALLY HURT!" Prompto screamed, dancing around in the backseat in order to avoid the blows.

Noctis, who had been quietly holding back his anger, couldn't resist, so he turned and also joined Ignis in pummeling the blond.

"WHAT THE FU—I'm out of here, FUCK YOU guys!" Prompto pulled on the door handle. It didn't budge. "Of course... It would be locked..."

The blond sighed and succumbed to the beating that his 'friends' gave him. With every punch that landed, Noctis felt his frustration diminish until he didn't feel like punching Prompto anymore. Ignis stopped as well.

"Yeah your welcome assholes," Prompto mumbled grumpily. Although he wasn't a fan of pain, he had to admit the beating seemed to defuse the tense mood. By taking the hits, with extreme bravery and finesse only a true demon could muster, he had single-handedly calmed the storm.

"Oh hell," the blond groaned. "How long is it going to take to get there?"

"Five days? A week, perhaps?" Ignis answered.

And that was the end of their conversation for a long while.

The days passed by slowly. How long, no one seemed to know.

Long evenings spent crammed in the backseat were finally taking their toll.

Prompto sighed restlessly. He wasn't the silent type, and right now, he craved conversation. He tried many different things to occupy himself. For example, he would count the number of people they passed that had at least a minuscule amount of knowledge of who he was. That didn't last long as he assumed everyone knew of him.

Bored, he reverted to looking out the window. He saw a plane fly by.

Unconsciously he spoke, "Why didn't we take the jet?"

The car stopped, _again._

_Why didn't we take the jet... Why..._

WHY DIDN'T THEY TAKE THE JET?

"The jet," Ignis muttered. Well now, wasn't this grand?

"The jet..." Noctis repeated. Who's stupid idea was it to take the damn car when he owned more than a dozen private jets? Oh wait...

"It's too late, we're already here. Look there's the Earth-Hell border checkpoint. Drive up to those guys in red, they'll let us through," Prompto pointed at the gigantic metal facility that had electric fences jutting out from both ends. There was a bridge behind the facility that led to human lands.

As their car approached the checkpoint, the demon guards immediately stood to attention, knowing very well who owned the black vehicle. The humans, however, did no such thing. Instead, they stood with their rifles at their hips, safeties off and ready to be used.

Noctis and Ignis got out of the car, and walked towards the humans.

"Stop, don't come any further," warned a cautious human guard. Noctis smiled. Humans and their tough guy acts. It seems that the humans had gathered a bunch of amateurs and posted them at the border. By the way they were shaking and fidgeting, Noctis doubted any of these soldiers had held let alone shot a gun before.

"Let us through, we have authorization," Noctis replied professionally. Ignis held the paper up so they could see.

"That paper is no longer legitimate. As you can see, it was signed by Prince Valefor Sola, however, though it saddens my heart to say this, just recently the young prince was slain in battle. Consequently, because he is deceased, so are the powers vested in those documents," the human answered.

"Bullshit," Noctis cursed. "Let us through. I'm not going to say it again."

"Guards!" The human shouted. From the roof of the edifice emerged well over a thousand armed guards, each with their rifles pointed at the demon prince. More and more guards poured out of the building, easily overwhelming the demon guards in numbers. The human guards formed a wall, preventing any movement across the Earth-Hell bridge.

"Noctis?" Ignis asked. He was uneasy, but then again who wouldn't be? Noctis's eyes were crimson red.

"Azazel," Noctis called out.

Ignis's eyes widened. Holy shit, he was going to—

The skies darkened, clouds blotted out the sun. In an instant, the warm temperature vanished and was replaced by rain, _hard_ rain. Lightning crackled in the distant, and wind blew furiously. In the distance, a flying beast wailed, forcing the humans to cover their ears. It flew towards the roof with godspeed, and from its jaws came out a stream of fire that incinerated the soldiers on the roof.

"Leviathan," Noctis continued his chant.

This time the waters under the bridge rippled. The waves grew and beat against the bridge. The human guards, protecting the bridge, screamed as they were struck down by tidal waves. Those that weren't blown away were paralyzed with fear at the sight of the shadow of an enormous serpentine creature in the water.

"Samael."

The ground shook violently. Everyone that was standing was knocked onto the floor, save Noctis and Ignis. In the center of all the chaos emerged a Minotaur with rotten flesh. Its rib cage and spine were visible for all to see. The size of the beast alone caused quite a few of the humans to faint.

Noctis rushed up human that had denied him passage and grabbed him by the throat, holding him off the edge of the bridge.

"You should have listened," he snarled angrily.

"P-P-Please..." The human was choking on his own saliva. If only he had known.

"Save your pleas for someone who'll listen," Noctis smiled and released the man, who fell a thousand feet to his death.

Now that the bridge was cleared, Ignis pulled up in the car, "Why'd you summon them?" He asked clearly referring to the beasts of Hell.

Noctis shrugged, "I have the power to, so why not? And plus, I didn't want to bloody myself killing all the humans. I want to look my best when I see Light again. Do you think she'd like it if I embraced her with bloodied arms?"

"Get in the car," Ignis ordered.

Noctis entered the passengers seat.

"Took you long enough," Prompto yawned. "You're losing your touch my friend. I blame the wife."

"Shut up," Noctis retorted. However, he couldn't shove away the notion that his angel wife was making soft. For hell's sake, he had almost felt remorse for tossing the puny human off of the bridge.

They soon crossed the bridge and entered through the gates on human lands.

"We're here, what do you think?" Ignis asked to no one in particular.

Prompto crinkled his nose.

"Humans smell terrible."

**ღ ღ ღ**

A/N: First off, let me start by apologizing for the mega late update. I'm currently enrolled in college as a freshman, and I'm just on a terribly tight schedule. I can't promise swift updates anymore, but I will update somehow. To all readers who have waited patiently for this chapter, I want to say you guys are the best :3.

Thanks for not giving up on me. I know it's hard to wait months for a chapter, and I'm sorry. It's hard for me, too. Every time I go on my laptop, my gut bugs me and tells me to write, but I can't. Thanks for supporting me! I've got a lot of things in store for this fic, so please bear with me.

Anyways, next chapter we'll finally get to see Lightning and Noctis reunited! And the twins? Oh Gods have mercy on you Noctis.


	9. Back to Step One

**Matrimony**

A/N: List of people who got homemade cookies (peanuts and fat free) for reviewing (or just a list of super sexy people) **HenriettaSkylink, FeatherBerry, MelodiusNocturn, MassMurderer, vix vik, LeeleeAiren, Yuki Minamoto, jasmine6653, Fishcake-kun, Gkwnsgh5, MonsterKiwi, SparklesANuni96, Ion-Zack, NocturnalSky, 4000kills, Addicted-To-Tic-Tacs, quasi una fantasia, nisu-chan25, Alice Darcia, snowlily, hakurama01, ashe, Anonymous, NoctLightXIII, Oblivion Star Seeker.**

**Chapter 9: Back to Step One**

Ignis rubbed his eyes.

For hours, he had been searching around a human district in search of the club called _'7th Heaven'_. And for hours he had failed miserably.

It didn't help that the goblins he summoned were complete idiots that didn't know the difference between left and right. The little creatures were more trouble than they were worth.

He sighed. He hoped Prompto and Noctis were having better luck finding the club because he definitely wasn't going to find it anytime soon.

He was about to summon more goblins when a loud crash resounded through the alleyway. _Oh God if that's what I think it is..._ Yep, it was. Knocked out on the ground were a pair of miniature goblins. By the looks of their distorted positions, Ignis assumed they had been running really quickly without looking and... Need he say any more? He was surrounded by idiots.

Why couldn't he summon the Gatekeepers of Hell like Noctis could? Why goblins, hell-hounds, succubi, and other _minor_ demons of all things?

Ignis felt something tug at his pants. He look down to see a goblin biting his leg.

"What do you want..." He scowled. Couldn't this wait?

The goblin jumped up and down eagerly.

"Okay..." Ignis nodded, comprehending what the creature was trying to relay unto him. "I see, so you found the club? Are you sure? I swear if you lead me to another human fast food restaurant, I will feed you to Azazel."

The mere mention of the lord of Hell caused the goblin to whine.

"Enough, take me there, now."

The goblin ran on all fours and guided the brown haired Archdemon along. Ignis panted and stopped to catch his breath. He was terribly out of shape. Even with his Archdemon stamina, he was worn out. The goblin better knew where it was going or else there would be hell to pay.

Ignis bumped into the goblin as it came to a stop. It pointed at a small building adorned in green.

An aura of murderous intent spread into the air as Ignis realized he had been played for a fool. "You stupid little..." His arms lit up with dark magic. He was going to kill the imbecile.

"I said Seventh HEAVEN!" Ignis shouted. Why were all of his subordinates inept idiots? "Not Seven ELEVEN!"

Before he could strangle the creature, he was interrupted by a voice he detested.

"Hey gay boy!"

Ignis's jaw ticked. _Calm down_, he thought as he urged himself not to kill the blond demon running his way.

Prompto stopped as he reached Ignis and opened his mouth to speak.

Ignis would have none of that. He elbowed Prompto in gut, causing the blond to double over in pain.

Slowly recovering, Prompto shot Ignis an accusing glare.

"What was that for?" He poked the brown-haired demon on the chest.

"Sorry," Ignis shrugged. "Involuntary arm spasm."

"Well if that's the case," Prompto kicked Ignis in the balls, hard.

The brunette had no time to react as his groin bore the full brunt of Prompto's kick. Instead, he clutched his manhood in his hands and squatted. As a defense mechanism, his arms lit up, and his fangs elongated with ominous demon power.

Prompto stiffened, scared shitless by Ignis's demon appearance. The dude wanted his blood.

He tried to make peace. "Heh... I-I-Involuntary leg spasm?"

Ignis roared.

Prompto ran.

**ღ ღ ღ**

"Noctis?"

That voice!

The demon prince froze. He turned to see his wife, looking at him worriedly. She was dressed in a hooded cloak that covered the rest of her attire. Her clothes made her look like an outcast and a refugee.

"Light?" He couldn't breath.

Time seemed to stop. He immediately closed the distance between them and encased her within his arms. Those god damn long hours of searching the human lands had finally yielded a result. He had found her! They could go home.

"It's you, you're here," she sounded skeptical. Almost as if she regretted his coming here.

"What's wrong?" Noctis asked. The worried look on her face was starting to dishearten him. "Look at me, what's wrong?"

Then he noticed it. The club that had been so crowded and bustling with excitement just a few moments ago was now near empty, save for a few other hooded figures. If this wasn't a set up he swore he'd shoot himself.

"I have to go," Lightning broke away from his hold.

"You're not going anywhere," He hissed angrily, ignoring the ever growing presence of hooded figures. By now they had flooded all of the hallways and covered all of the exits. "What the hell is going on?"

"Let go of me," she replied coldly and shook her wrist from his grasp.

Noctis was caught off guard by the hint of malice that was in her voice. Her tone rivaled that of his. Had the situation been different, he would have swelled up with pride, but now was not the time.

"Stop being stupid. Let's go before I have to kill someone," Noctis growled. What the hell had gotten into her? One minute she was happy to see him, the next she was telling _him _to leave.

"You're a fool Noctis," Lightning insulted

_What the? Where the hell did that come from?_ Noctis clenched his fist and listened _'patiently' _as Lightning tried to explain why she was acting she like a typical woman.

Lightning glared at him and put her hands on her hips as if she was going to scold him. "Did you really think I called you here to save me? No, I've called you here for a different reason. Franz, you can come on out now, sweetheart."

"What the—" Noctis breathed angrily as jealous rage filled his entire body. _Sweetheart? Who the?_

From one of the club corridors came down Franz. He was dressed in his usual battle armor, but that wasn't what made the atmosphere so chilling. The smile on his face was so sinister that it surpassed all others.

Noctis nearly gagged as Lightning rushed over to the human's side and embraced him lovingly. The smile and laughter that should have been reserved for him was being wasted on the likes of a human. It angered him. That little bitch...

His eyes bled at the sight. He held a hand to his eyes. He had to be hallucinating. There was no way Light could ever be attracted to a human. He didn't, no he WOULDN'T accept this.

All of the anger he was channeling through his body was having a devastating effect on his surroundings. The ground cracked open like an egg shell and fire erupted from the cracks.

And then the room exploded, exposing them to dark ominous clouds that hadn't been in the skies until now. Strewn out on the ground were the lifeless bodies of cloaked exorcists who were caught in the blast radius.

"Light."

Oh God. Lightning swallowed fearfully. Noctis only used that tone of voice when he was seriously angry. As the air grew hotter, Lightning found herself struggling to breath. The air pressure was overwhelming. He was actually going to kill her.

"Come here," Noctis stated in a murderously calm voice. "I won't say it again."

As much as she'd loved to, Lightning didn't budge. Her twins were being held hostage, and if she did anything suspicious, Franz wouldn't hesitate to make a call and have them killed.

"Fine," Noctis growled, utterly hurt by her refusal. Instead of leaving in disgust, he walked towards the pair, unhindered by the amount of human soldiers converging on him.

Lightning had to admit, her husband was frightening. Black flames surrounded his black leather suit making him look more sinister, and every bit of the demon prince that he was... and yummy. _Now's not the time_! She reminded herself, trying not to focus on his bulging biceps that were exposed by the flames. Good God if she ever lived to see another day, she wanted those arms all over her.

An explosion brought her out of her lewd thoughts. Every step Noctis took blew a crater into the ground.

Noctis approached Lightning, and to his irritation the human, Franz didn't seem worried at all. It was almost as if he was hiding something.

And then felt it.

Pain. He had never felt such a burning in his life. Mainly because no one was capable of inflicting such harm on him. Noctis dropped to knees and clutched his head. _What the FUCK was this? It burned like shit._

Noctis screamed and writhed. Lightning couldn't help herself. Despite the fact that she was putting the lives of her twins at risk, she started to scream as well, telling Franz to stop hurting him. She couldn't bear to watch her husband suffer.

Franz, who had been watching silently, chuckled out loud, "Arrogant demons like you need to be put in their place. If you had an ounce of common sense you would have known that I was prepared for this. So let me explain."

"In each corner of this room, I've placed pages of a book known as the Testament of Solomon," Franz explained, flipping his hair. "In ancient times, King Solomon would control demons with this Testament, enslaving them and forcing them to construct his temple. The demons that refused became victims of his Testament. They experienced pain beyond belief, until they conceded. Basically what that means is I have the Testament, and so your demon ass is dead."

"Is that w-what you think?" Noctis chuckled and slowly rose. One of his eyes were shut from the pain. He shuddered and stood. "You think a little holy magic is going to stop me?"

Noctis took another step, and as he got closer to Franz, the burning grew until he couldn't budge. _It really burns, shit_. He was surprised he could even get his body to move.

"Now my demon let's not be stupid now," Franz brushed his hand against Lightning's cheek. "You can either continue this idiotic rescue mission you've come on and burn to a crisp, or you can run along home and be safe on that pretty little throne of yours."

Noctis spat at his feet.

Franz's countenance darkened at the lack of respect. Fine so be it. He moved over to where Noctis was crawling and kicked him in the gut hard. "You stupid creature. Show some respect to the King of humans!"

Noctis grunted. The kick hurt like hell, especially since his body was burning, but he was able to tolerate a lot more than a couple of misguided kicks. He started to laugh. King of _humans_ now that was a good joke.

"So the monkey thinks he has power because he rules over a couple of ants?" Noctis curled his lips. "Isn't that cute? Maybe I should give you a banana instead of that rapier of yours, it would be more fitting."

"You're completely out of your mind," Franz screamed. "I'm going to kill you!"

He advanced on demon prince, thinking he was without power. He was mistaken.

Noctis bolted the instant Franz came into range and grabbed his legs, slamming the big human onto the floor. He clasped the humans throat in his hands and cut off his air. The bitch was his, finally.

Franz thrashed wildly and rummaged his pockets for an item. Noctis thought he was searching for a weapon and applied more pressure to his throat hoping Franz would die quickly. Instead, Franz took out a remote with a button on it.

He didn't know what it was, but if the idiot thought he was going to stab him with a remote then he was as good as dead. Franz choked and struggled to press the button.

But before Noctis could deliver the killing blow with his demon claws, Lightning delivered a nasty kick to his chest, sending him flying across the room. God damn, the woman had strength. Noctis grit his teeth in pain as he lifted himself out of the hole he had made in the wall

He glowered angrily as Lightning straddled Franz, apologizing to him telling him that she'd listen to whatever he'd say. _The hell? 'Don't press the button'_ was what stood out the most from their conversation.

Franz whispered something into her ears.

Their proximity angered Noctis. And when things couldn't have gotten worse, Lightning bent forward and claimed Franz on the lips. It wasn't just a peck on the lips, it was a long pleasurable one. One that was targeted at him. One that shattered his cold heart.

He watched frozen and hurt. Wronged by the only person in the world he'd ever give a damn for. She had come into his life bent on saving him, and now, she'd taken whatever trust he had for her and shred it into pieces. _Fucking bitch._ He wanted her head.

From this day forward, he'd harden his heart. Women were bitches that toyed with trust.

Lightning eyed him coldly as he stood. "Leave Noctis, you're not wanted here."

He didn't reply. Why should he? He had no words for a bitch. The next time he saw, he cut her black heart from her chest. She would be wise to stay out his way. Today, he'd let her live because a pitiful part of him couldn't bear killing her.

"Tell me something," Barely holding onto what little faith her had in her, Noctis stopped at what was left of the doorway. "Did you ever love me?"

Lightning held back a heart-wrenching sob. _If only he knew_. She could tell him—no, she wanted to tell him that he'd mattered more to her than anything in the world, but Franz's grip on her wrist brought her back to reality. Life wasn't fair. _I'm sorry babe, this is for our children._

Children who he'd refuse to believe was theirs now that he'd seen her kiss with Franz.

"How could anyone love you?" She snarled with as much hate as she could muster, which was excruciatingly hard to do. It was all she could do to prevent tears from pouring out of her eyes. Even then her eyes were glassy.

Noctis laughed weakly, facing away from her. "Is that your answer?"

"No._ 'Get out'_ is my answer," she growled. "And if you don't do it, I'll force you to, so I'd suggest you'd take lessons from the last guy I maimed and _get out_."

Lightning's heart broke as Noctis turned to look at her. Instead of seeing her husband, who had tried his best to adapt to her mild ways, she saw a demon who held no love for her whatsoever. _Too late to turn back now._

"Fuck you bitch," Noctis hissed.

And then he vanished, leaving her alone and unsure of what the future had for their relationship, if there even was a relationship left to salvage. She seriously doubted there was considering she was now on the top of her husband's hit list.

Wiping a tear from her cheek, Lightning didn't even notice Franz coming towards her. And before she knew it, she was on the floor clutching her swollen cheek from where the bastard Franz had struck her.

"You stupid bitch!"

_Bitch. _She hated that word yet she seemed to define _'bitch' _nowadays according to the male population.

"You useless piece of trash. Look what happened to my face!" Franz cried out hysterically. He pointed at the disgusting purple bruise etched across his face. Noctis really did a number on him. "You should have taken him out before he laid his hands on me, you worthless bitch!"

_Bruise or no bruise you still look like an ugly toad_, Lightning thought.

Franz cursed, examining himself with a portable mirror. Yes, he was _that_ vain despite how plain his looks were.

"Let me see my twins," Lightning demanded. "You promised, I did as you said. Noctis is gone, you have no demon to worry about, so show me where they are or I'll—"

"You'll what?" Franz mocked. "Kill me with the powers you _don't_ have? I'm growing tired of your empty threats, but you know what I tire of more than those? I'm getting sick and tired of _you_."

"What do you mea—"

She didn't get to finish her sentence before bullets tore through her shoulder, stomach, and thigh. Blood splattered all over the floor. _Why? _She couldn't believe it. Franz was standing over her with an ancient gun pointed at her, smoke rising from the barrel.

Bile rose in her throat. Blood followed soon after.

Bracing herself, she threw up whatever she had in her stomach and curled herself into a ball trying to focus on anything but pain. But that was easier said than done. Normally, bullets didn't damage her, but knowing Franz, there was probably another source of magic at work here. For a human, he was crafty.

Lightning lifted her hands and examined their bloodiness. Red was a disturbing color. Lying there, she could feel her essence waning, her life hanging on a thread. Her Archangel powers were trying hard to repair her damages, but they weren't enough. She was dying, and there was no avoiding her fate.

"Why?" Franz questioned, reading her mind. "Because, you're a threat. I can't have an Archangel mother regaining her strength, freeing her children, and killing me now, can I? Do you want to know what's ironic? You were originally a crucial part in my grand scheme until you bore those twins. Their birth rendered you useless. Why keep a reluctant Archangel when you can raise two innocent, yet destructively powerful Seraph children as your own? The children you so valiantly fought to protect are the reason why you're in this position as we speak, so thank them or curse them if you want, either way I win."

"You can't kill an Archangel," Lightning denied weakly though her body stated otherwise.

"Yes I can, but let me explain it in terms _you_ can understand," Franz holstered his gun. "It's simple, you put a bullet into a gun, and then you put the bullet into the Archangel. However... You might want to double-tap so you make sure they're dead."

And as soon as he spoke those words, he shot her in the leg, again.

Lightning screamed until her voice gave out. This bullet she felt. The others she hadn't due to shock. And God did it hurt.

"Don't relax too much," came Franz's voice from a distance. He was leaving her to die. "I made sure the bullets would kill you. The poison on them was imported from the rivers of Tartarus, a Greek method of killing angels. Though I doubt you know who the Greeks are. Anyways in about an hour or so, you'll be experiencing the worst kind of pain known to man. The poison will eat away your insides, starting with the least important organs in order to guarantee that you die a slow, painful death."

Surely he was lying, Lightning's stomach plummeted with terror. Because Franz didn't elaborate any further or gloat like he usually would, Lightning knew he was dead serious. In a matter of hours, she'd be dead.

She foolishly slammed her fist on the ground, sending an electric jolt of pain throughout her body and leaving her breathless.

Dying she could cope with, but leaving her twins behind under the care of a sadistic bastard human, she couldn't. If she had to escape from the deepest levels of the Darkness and suffer the wrath of the Lord of Death himself, she would gladly do so.

Lightning hissed as her stomach started to burn. Franz was incorrect about the estimated time that the pain would start to kick in. He said it would be hours until she'd feel anything, but hell, thirty minutes hadn't even passed and she already felt like her insides were dissolving.

She grit her teeth and reflected on exactly how Franz had used her.

_"Take the phone," Franz had ordered her._

_She had been completely perplexed at the time. All she could focus on was the gun pointed at Lucien's head. _

_"What do you want to me to?" Her voice shook. _

_"Call your husband, and tell him to come here. Tell him to come to the bar called '7th Heaven' and that you'll be waiting for him," Franz ordered. "Remember, one slip of the tongue, and baby boy here loses his head."_

_She didn't have to be asked twice, not with Lucien's life on the line. Punching the Prompto's numbers into the phone, she only prayed Prompto would be near Noctis. The phone ringed twice before Prompto picked up._

_"Prompto," She whispered._

_"Hey Claire! How've you bee... WHAAAA—" _

_She had to hold back a snicker at the thought of Prompto's eyes bulging out of his head in surprise._

_Her chat-time with Prompto was cut short as Noctis picked up the phone, "Light! Is that you? Light talk to me baby."_

_He had even called her his 'baby'. No one had ever regarded her with such kindness, not even her parents did. The angels she grew up with and those she considered close 'friends' also kept her at a distance because she was an Archangel. A position which should only deserved respect and reverence, not love and friendship._

_And then she couldn't help herself. _

_When Noctis declared his love for her, she melted into mush and sobbed like a baby. It had been embarrassing to cry in front of Franz and his exorcist subordinates._

_But who wouldn't cry when their sexy demon husband, who—she added with great emphasis—had originally had his sights set on ending her life, declared his unconditional love for her, his polar opposite?_

_Then as Franz had ordered her to, she screamed as if someone had caught her talking on the phone in secret. _

_She handed the phone over to Franz, who had a few words with Noctis before he hung up._

_Franz ordered Lucien and Lucia to be taken away. She begged for him to let her stay with them, but he refused. He said there was still the encounter with Noctis ahead of them, and that he'd need her twins as leverage over her._

_He had then introduced the remote which he held at all times. A single press of the red button in the center, and the guards overseeing her twins would be given the order to excute them. Regardless of where Franz went, if the remote went with him then Lucien and Lucia were in danger._

Sweating herself out of her thoughts due to the immense pain, Lightning breathed raspy wheezes. Her lungs were starting to go. Pretty soon, she'd melt into a pool of ick on the floor.

There was only one person in the world who could save her right now, but there was one problem. He absolutely hated her guts.

Yes it was shocking, devastating actually, after all, who could hate such an innocent angel such as herself? But even then there were people who loathed her.

She shoved whatever doubts and regrets she had aside. She had already established that she would do anything for Lucien and Lucia. For them, she'd make a pact with this man who'd love nothing but to murder her and _that_ was saying something about her love for her children.

Closing her mind off to distracting thoughts, she searched the heavens for him, and called his name when his figure popped up in her head.

"Come to me," she ordered. "Please."

At first, she thought he had ignored her like she thought he would, but then the air crackled, and he materialized in front of her.

Raw power radiated from this man. He was the Dominion, a guardian angel that protected lands holy and sacred to their kind. He was the highest above all angels, including her father. There was only one Dominion. In order to qualify, one had to be an angel with absolute _dominance_ in battle. There was a competition held every year where challengers would face the current Dominion in battle for the title.

This man had never lost, _period_. He had been the Dominion long before her birth.

Just being in his presence made her feel unworthy, and knowing that he absolutely detested her made her feel dirty. Why he hated her, however, was a story for another day. Right now, she just hoped he was in the mood to negotiate, or else he'd blast her into oblivion for summoning him.

"Dominion," she called out, inclining her head the best she could while lying down. It was a sign of respect.

The Dominion stood over her, regal and tall as ever. His long, knee-length silver hair flowed and billowed gracefully as he walked. All the while a deadly sword hung at his side, the tip of it grazed the ground while he walked.

And because angels were vain creatures, he of course had an alluring, masculine face and body made for sin. Although he was ungodly hot in his leather clothing, she would never think of or lust after _him_ that way.

It was wrong on so many levels that she didn't even want to think about it.

As he stirred, she could feel life and death shifting around him, meaning his actions could either kill or save. It was simply frightening. She was seriously having second thoughts about calling him. She had probably just signed her death warrant without knowing it.

Then again the Dominion would never hurt her no matter how much he hated her. He was bound by duty to protect her, especially because she was an Archangel, the highest of her kind. But that didn't mean he wouldn't let the poison do what he had wanted to do for so long.

"Why have you called me, Eclair?" His voice was cold.

He looked at her as if he was disgusted by her bloodied state.

Lightning cringed at his use of her real name. "Heal me. Cleanse me from this damned poison."

The Dominion grabbed her throat and slammed her head against the floor. She almost blacked out from the force of the impact. This man was terribly strong, only her husband would be his equal in strength.

"You dare order me?" The Dominion growled into her ear. "Why should I help you when you have wronged me? Why should I do anything for you for that matter? You have the gall to wound me then ask for favors? I should kill you. Hell if I weren't bound by these laws, I would, have no doubt about it."

Lightning didn't reply. She couldn't. There was no "right" answer she could give him.

"Why should I help you?" He repeated and shook her with such a force that her teeth rattled.

"Answer me, _little sister_."

**ღ ღ ღ**

A/N: Holy craptola, it's like 1 something in the morning, and I am gone! Hahaha... Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Make sure to review as always because reviews make me SMEGMA happy!

And about the _sweet_ Lightning Noctis reunion that a lot of you were so eagerly anticipating... Uh-oh... DON'T KILL ME. I'm going to sign off now before someone rapes me. Good night!

Oh one more thing! Matrimony has 75 faves! OHSHAT, I could fly from all the support I'm getting. You guys seriously rock!


	10. The Curtain Call

**Matrimony**

A/N: Here's to all my supporters, to whom without Matrimony would be full of fail: **MassMurderer, 4000kills, Silver-MemoryKeeper, Oblivion Star Seeker, lindtchoco, vix vik, Yuki Minamoto, MidnightReader1, Fishcake-kun, kyutal, NocturnalSky, FightingDreamer001, snowlily, nisu-chan25, Henrietta Skylink, Gkwnsgh5, SparklesANuni96, Addicted-To-Tic-Tacs, hakurama01, Ashelia Lucis Caelum, Monster Kiwi, Kingu, Selestic!**

**Chapter 10: The Curtain Call**

Lightning felt an icy chill ripple throughout her entire body. The Dominion's words were spat with such vehemence that she knew his loathing for her was still deeply engraved in his heart.

_Why should I help you? _His question lingered in her thoughts. She panicked. If she didn't find a way to answer reasonably, she knew he'd make her pay. But how could she answer the question when she had nothing to offer him?

Except...

"I'll give you my wings," she mouthed out before she could think.

The Dominion loosened his grip on her collar and took a step backward in disbelief.

Angels without wings were the lowest form of trash, beggars and filth. Angelic society shunned them, fearing that their deformity was contagious. But most of all, angels without wings weren't angels at all. And here, Eclair was about to make the greatest sacrifice of her life. For what? He didn't know, but he curious. His sister wasn't a fool.

Even she knew that Archangels were no exception to this rule. Once she gave up her wings, no one would ever respect her again. She would be shunned and hated like the rest, and she would no doubt also lose her entitlement as the Angel Princess.

The Dominion grinned and started shaking with silent laughter. Could this day get any better? Eclair was going ruin herself, and he wasn't going to lift a single finger. He'd finally get what he desired most, her eternal suffering.

Lightning grit her teeth as another wave of pain hit her like a truck.

Without hesitation, she unfolded her brilliant white wings and lay on her stomach so her wings were exposed to the Dominion, showing him that she was dead serious about making the exchange, her healing for her wings.

She closed her eyes and waited for his approval. However, she couldn't help, but feel regretful. She knew that the stigma placed on wingless angels was the worst. Most of these angels either left angelic lands on their own accord or were forced out by malicious gossip and blacklists. Her father, she knew for a fact, would act as if he loved her, but even then he'd grow weary of sheltering a defect. Eventually, he would concede to the demands for her exile.

If her brother agreed to the trade, there was no going back.

"Fine," he accepted her proposition and flourished his long blade.

The willingness in her brother's voice broke her heart. Whatever love he had for her had dissipated the minute she had gone against his will and betrayed him. To think she had looked up to him when she was a child. Now that was a joke.

As her brother made preparations, a part of her wanted him to refuse her offer, but her maternal side wanted him to get this trade over with as fast as possible. Every second that passed meant a second more that Franz had to corrupt her children.

"There's no going back," The Dominion warned, holding his blade at his side, preparing to cleave her wings off in a quick strike.

"Do it," she closed her eyes and prepared for the end of her angelic life. _No regrets._ For her children, she'd do anything.

Before she could brace herself for the impact, the Dominion swung his sword. Her wings vanished instantly. She felt her body turn cold as the warmth provided by her wings was sucked into the Dominion's sword.

And then, it was over.

Her wings were gone.

The Dominion kicked her upright so that he could grab her chin. Forcefully, he made her look into his mako green eyes. Absolute pleasure danced in his very pupils, showing her how much he relished in her suffering.

Lightning gasped as her brother lifted her head up and kissed her on the nose like he used to. But it wasn't the same; the difference was tangible. There was no love in the kiss, it was an angry kiss.

"You're dead to me, Eclair," he then kissed her forehead. This was all just a sick game to him. "You're dead to all of us: father, mother, Serah, our people. As a matter of fact, I don't even want to see you near _Serah_, ever again."

There it was, again. That possessiveness of his. Something she had once been the primary focus of.

Lightning hissed as her brother placed the bottom his boot on her cheek. That bastard! By doing so, he was trying to tell her she wasn't even worth the dirt beneath his feet anymore. She was trash.

"Don't ever call me again, _demon_ whore," he snarled then vanished in a flurry of his single black wing.

The minute the Dominion disappeared, Lightning felt cool air encase her. As much as she would have loved to wring her brother's neck, she had to admit he always kept his word. The bastard could have taken her wings and left her to die, but he didn't. Pretty soon, her body was feeling much better. All of the tolls that her "childbirth" had on her body diminished.

She felt great. An angelic aura radiated off of her skin. Though she might have lost her ability to fly, the rest of her Archangel powers remained.

Raising her arms skyward, Lightning stretched, loosening every tight joint in her body. God, this was bliss. She twisted her body at the waist and felt her hips cry out in ecstasy. Too long had she been imprisoned with no room to move, and too long had she been powerless. No longer was she defenseless.

"Mama's coming Lucien, Lucia," Lightning whispered. Observing the mutilated bodies of human exorcists, Lightning felt the weight of reality slam into her like a freight train. Mama would be coming for them, _alone_. She shook her head. She could do this alone... At least that's what she thought.

"I don't think so."

Lightning perked up and looked around for the owner of the foreign voice.

She growled like a feral lion when she saw Franz's _pet_, Ace emerge from behind one of the leftover chunks of wall. Right now, anyone associated with the human bastard was dead.

Quicker a blink, she snatched the human boy by the throat and buried him painfully against the solid wall. Her hold on his throat was so hard that the wall behind him began to crack under the pressure.

Ace tapped rapidly on the scary-ass angel's arm, hoping she would come to her senses and NOT kill him for being who he was. Honestly, he was only trying to help the woman, and what was he getting in return? He was getting smashed into mashed potatoes that's what.

"W-w-wait," he choked. His vision was blurring. "I want to help!"

Lightning didn't give a damn.

"Shit woman, you're going to kill the only person who knows where Franz and your children are!" Ace screamed. Please, he was too young to die.

Hearing those words, Lightning released her grip and dropped the human boy.

Ace fell on his knees and rubbed his throat. Jeez, the things he did for Luna. First, he served the biggest bastard in history, and now, he was trying to negotiate with a feral, deadly angel mother who wanted nothing more than to reclaim her children.

"Gah, I swear you're not a woman," Ace coughed bitterly. "No woman has a grip that strong."

Lightning glared and struck the boy in the face. She was not in the mood to deal with humans and their smart antics. If the boy ran his mouth one more time, she'd geld him.

Ace rolled a good measure before fiction slowed him down. "Note to self, don't piss off psycho angel woman," He moaned. At least not if he wanted to live.

He slowly got to his knees. The sight of the angel princess looming over him did nothing but scare the crap out of him. _I knew I shouldn't have come..._

"Talk human."

"Yes ma'am!" Ace sputtered. Feeling the enormous amount of raw energy the woman was releasing into the air, he wondered if she was the same woman as before. If this aura was hers, he was glad he hadn't fought her when she was pissed because he seriously could have lost a body part or two.

"Well as you know, Franz is keeping your twins in the same warehouse that he held you prisoner in, BUT him being Franz, he knows sooner or late, someone, most likely your husband, is going to go after him in a fit of rage," Ace paused. "So, he's going to leave Aria entirely. To where? Even I don't know, but in a week he's going to grab your twins and ship them out of here, away from you and your husband, and he's going to return when your children have matured under his guidance. Then with the power of your twin Seraphs, he's going to wreak havoc on the continent and proclaim himself God."

Lightning let her mind digest the boy's words. If Franz was going to leave in a week then she had to kill him now.

"I'm going after him," Lightning spat bitterly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ace held out his hands to stop.

"Don't get in my way _kid._"

"Kid? You can't be older than twenty," Ace scoffed. "I'm probably older than you. How old are you? "

"Older than you."

Ace rolled his eyes, "Listen woman, use your head. Franz has a shit ton, I _mean _a shit ton, of angel slaying weapons that he's collected. The dude's a sadistic bastard with a fetish for killing angels and demons. You name an ancient weapon, and Franz has got it."

"That doesn't change the fact that I'm going to kill him," Lightning answered.

Ace sucked in a breath. Patience was most definitely a virtue. "Have you heard NOTHING I've said? The dude will kill you and this time for sure. I heard your conversation with that scary mother effin' angel dude. He made it quite clear to me that he wasn't going to save you again. Hell, he sounded kind of disappointed that he had to heal you."

"You were eavesdropping?"

_Oh shit... _Ace flinched.

Lightning grabbed him by the collar none to gently. The boy was in for it now.

"I had no choice," Ace protested. "Do you know how freakin' scary that guy was. Silver hair, dark leather clothing, he even had a black wing protruding from his left shoulder. The guy looked like death in human form. Not to mention he could have sliced me to bits with that long sword of his, even though I was hiding at least a good fourteen feet away."

Listening to the human boy explanation of why he was eavesdropping, she couldn't help but agree with him. Before she had met Noctis, her brother was only the person in the world that she had been afraid of.

"Look lady," Ace shut up as he received a glare from the angel, who obviously disliked his name for her. Well, he didn't know her name so he couldn't call her anything else. There was Mrs. Angel... but that was a stretch. She would probably maim him. "Fine, Mrs. Angel! Look, you go back to Franz by yourself then you die, end of story, no phoenix down, no revive, no revivaja whatsoever, NOTHING! Man, now I know why people say that women with looks as good as yours have IQ's less than their combined shoe sizes. You are incorrigible!"

Lightning should have been angered by the boy's rant, but actually she kind of touched that he was trying to rescue her from death.

"Why should I listen to you? Better yet, why are you trying to help me?" Lightning questioned suspiciously.

"Okay, I know we didn't exactly get off to a good start, me nearly kicking your butt and all," Ace laughed. Lightning scoffed. "But there's a reason why I work for a douche-bag like Franz. I mean honestly, you'd have to be the dumbest, dumb ass to willingly work for that guy."

"You mean to tell me you were working for Franz against your will?"

"Do I look like a dumb ass to you? Wait—" Ace cut her off before she could reply. "Don't answer that. I was forced to work for the dude. There's a human princess named Luna Sola that I pledged my life and loyalty to. Franz originally held her captive so he could use me, but during our mission to kidnap you, Luna got kidnapped by your demon husband, and now I have to help you, so that I can get on your husband's good side."

_Her husband_. Lightning bit her lip and closed her eyes. Thoughts of Noctis and his warmth, his confession of love for her filled her head. Oh how she would kill to be in his arms, in his bed curled up with him, kissing away his worries.

"If you want to get on my husband's good side, I suggest you kill me now," Lightning answered coldly.

Ace sensed the change in her demeanor. He sighed. _Women and their crazy mood swings... Gotta love them. _He couldn't blame her. He knew what Franz had done to her and how he had ruined her. "Listen Mrs. Angel, us guys, we're dumb. We can't apologize for crap, we can't show our emotions for crap either. You know why? It's because of our damn pride. Sometimes, we say stuff that we don't mean, but if you can get past our initial coldness, you'll find someone calling out for you to hold him. Oh man, I'm starting to sound like a hopeless romantic."

"You're saying my husband didn't mean what he said."

"That's exactly what I'm trying to say!" Ace regretted the words as soon as he spoke them. He'd seen the demon prince, and from what he knew, the man was pretty damned serious when he told his wife to go kill herself.

"Gah, this is so frustrating!" Lightning groaned.

"Tell me about it," Ace whined.

"I still don't trust you."

"That's totally fine with me." Ace held up his hands. He wasn't surprised she was suspicious of him. "All I want you to do is talk some sense into your husband that way you guys can go back to being happily married, and I can take Luna far away from Franz."

"Well then I don't see what we're waiting for," Lightning folded her arms. "How long will it take to get back to my husband's lands? Better yet, how are we going to get back? I don't even know how to get there."

"Leave that to me," Ace twirled a card between his fingers. "Here hold my hand."

Lightning stood where she was, arching an eyebrow.

"Oh please, I don't date older women, and I'm not going to give you the cooties," Ace sighed before explaining. "You need to be in physical contact with me if this is going to work."

Knowing that she was being immature, Lightning held out her hand. Ace grabbed it gratefully.

"Hold on tight," Ace warned. "This might suck."

Ace chanted in a foreign language. Lightning grew nervous. Her stomach churned as her surroundings started to blur.

Then they vanished into thin air.

**ღ ღ ღ**

The Darkness.

For centuries, it has been a place where terrors unimaginable exist.

Located beneath the demon palace, the Darkness serves as a high security prison, housing the most notorious of all criminals: serial killers, rapist, lunatics, terrorists, pedophiles, and those too far into insanity to be saved.

The guards are relentless, most of them creatures found in the deepest pits of hell. One nasty look, or slip of the tongue guaranteed a painful death. Those sentenced to life in the Darkness eventually learned to keep their mouths shout.

In the Darkness, one could lose track of time due to the absence of daylight, and others lost their minds in a matter of minutes. At night, painful screams of tortured convicts prevented most from getting a decent amount of sleep.

The prison was the closest thing to Hell.

And no one was safe from its dark clutches. Humans and angels both sent their worst law breakers to the Darkness. Despite its large population, the Darkness could have had more inmates, but the majority of people sentenced to imprisonment there either killed themselves there, or killed themselves before arriving.

To put it simply, the Darkness was the last place a person wanted to be, crazy or not.

Noctis placed his head against the cold wall of his cell and rested. The Darkness was the only place that gave him comfort. He fed and grew off the negativity and fear of the inmates, darkening his heart and strengthening his demonic powers.

The screams, the whimpers, the pleas for mercy filled his head with pleasure, distracting him from wayward thoughts, but more importantly, thoughts of _her._

The very thought of her sickened him. He snarled bitterly as his mind would force pictures of her into his head. Her in a wedding dress, her in his bed with her arms wrapped around him, and her smiling at him with sparkling emerald eyes.

He was fool to believe that a woman as angelic as her could ever _love_ him. It was quite obvious that she was sick of his lewd mannerisms. She loathed everything that he was. He was a natural born killer, and she was a princess. The gap between their similarities was too wide.

Oh how he'd kill to have her arms wrapped around his waist, face pressed against his back. She made him _complete._ When she was around him, she made him feel like a regular man, not a terrifying killer or a demon prince.

_Stop!_ He forced himself to rid his head of thoughts of her. She was a tramp, not an angel. She fucked the human bastard willingly and had the gall to flaunt her newfound love in his face.

Two days. He told himself. Two days in this place, and he'd forget about her completely. She'd be void from his thoughts. If they ever, by fate, met again, he wouldn't even bother killing her. The bitch wasn't worth his time.

"Hey pretty boy."

Noctis ignored the voice. The first offense he'd forgive. It was too dark for the prisoner next to him to see his features clearly.

"Hey," the convict called through the bars of his cell. "Come over here pretty boy, let me fuck you in the ass. Come on, can't you see I'm lonely as hell, give me some company boy."

Noctis cracked his knuckles.

"Didn't you hear me you idiot?" the man questioned sharply. "Do you know who I am? I'm Darius _'the bloody'_! Unlike you, I actually don't give a shit about being in this rundown douche hole. I've raped more than a hundred fucking people and killed more than a thousand. Do you have a wife? I probably fucked her too!"

Wrong move. Noctis reached out and grabbed the man, pulling him against the cell walls. The man panicked as his air circulation was cut off.

Kicking open the door to his own cell, Noctis roughly tossed the man out of his cell and into the center of the prison. By now, all of the inmates had pressed themselves against their cells to get a better look at what was going on.

A couple of rotting skeleton guards, believing that a prison break was in effect, came over to punish them. One look from Noctis had them shrinking back into the shadows, afraid of and confused by their young master's presence in the Darkness.

"Oh shit you're the fucking prince!" the man's eyes widened. He didn't get to say another word as Noctis tore his left arm off with a single jerk.

Darius screamed so loud that his pained cries echoed off of the walls and shook the entire prison.

Noctis wasn't finished.

Effortlessly, he threw Darius into the air and kept him suspended there with demon telekinesis, then conjured up his swords. Darius choked in pain as his blood gushed out of his left shoulder and splashed onto the ground like a waterfall.

Looking down at the swords pointed at him, Darius begged for mercy. "P-p-please, I didn't know." If he was released at this height, the swords would completely destroy his body. There wouldn't be anything left to salvage.

Noctis grinned. _I didn't know_. No one ever knew. He let go of his hold, and the man came down screaming before he was impales. Blood went flying everywhere, dyeing the gray walls red.

Noctis smiled as he examined his piece of work then snapped his fingers. A sword was placed against the jugular of every prison inmate.

"Scream!" he shouted.

The prisoners didn't need to be told twice. After seeing him make quick work of Darius the bloody, they were only happy to oblige. Screams of more than a thousand inmates filled the prison simultaneously.

Noctis relished in their frightened squeals and went back into his cell.

For the rest of the night, he fed on their screams and enjoyed a peaceful sleep.

His wife was already a specter of the past.

**ღ ღ ღ**

"We're here," Ace breathed as the dizziness of teleportation kicked him. He glanced at the angel to see how she was holding up. God, she looked like she was going to be sick. Of course, that was perfectly fine with him as long as she hurled on one the palace pillars and not him.

"Uh..." Lightning held her stomach. Her head was doing spins. "How do you deal with this? I feel like crap."

"Trust me, you're holding up fine," Ace answered. "The first time I teleported, I shaved off thirty pounds throwing up."

"Nice to know."

"Hey!" Ace tapped Lightning on the shoulder. "Isn't that guy one of your husband's friends? That blond guy?"

Blond? That had to mean, Prompto! Lightning looked to where Ace was pointing and found the blond Archdemon making his way up the palace stairs alone. She went after him, knowing that he would help her.

"Wait up," Ace called after. "Do you think he'll want to talk to you? If what you said is true, and if he really is your husband's friend then he'll probably want to kill you, too."

"No," Lightning shook her head, perishing the thought although a ghost of that thought told her he'd abandon her. "Prompto is the only person that I know I can trust."

Running up the stairs, she hugged the taller male by the waist. Inhaling his scent, she sighed. This was feeling she longed for, the feeling of security and warmth. Lightning wished she could stay this way for eternity, but she knew that was impossible.

"What the?" Prompto froze as a pair of arms tightened around his waist. Was he getting robbed?

He turned and saw a woman with pink hair hugging him.

It was Claire.

Lightning knew something was wrong the minute she hugged Prompto. Instead of reciprocating her affection, he shoved her away forcefully. She couldn't believe it. He hated her, too.

Prompto glared at her so harshly that it was almost out of character. Normally, he was upbeat and sweet. It frightened her to see him so serious. Now she knew why demons would be demons no matter how nice they seemed.

"Prompto?" she took a step back hesitantly.

Prompto trapped her against a pillar with his body, "What the fuck are you doing here, Claire? Haven't you done enough? You already broke Noctis's heart, what more do you want?"

"Please," Lightning fidgeted for some space. "You have to list—"

"—I'm not listening to any of your shit, you lying bitch," Prompto hissed into her ear. "Why aren't you with your human lover? Did he tell you to kill Noctis? Is that why you're here? Well if that's the case, you've already done a great fucking job."

Lightning's heart pounded angrily. Why was he being so hostile to her?

"Prompto!" Lightning shouted. "Listen for a second! I have children, twins!"

"Oh you're sick," Prompto snarled. "It was bad enough you fucked the damn human, and now you've birthed his children? Get out of here, Claire. If you know what's best for you, leave. I'm being dead serious. Come near Noctis again, and I'll rip your heart out and shove it down your throat."

Lightning dropped to her knees and slumped her head in defeat. Why wouldn't he listen? Tears of frustration welled in her eyes.

"Please Prompto, you're the only person that I can depend on." Lightning fell silent. "If you don't believe me, who will?"

Prompto almost felt guilty, seeing Claire sitting there, looking so exhausted and depressed. _It's just an act_, he told himself._ The bitch is a natural born actress, you said it yourself._

No, he wouldn't fall for her pretty face. He wouldn't be a victim like Noctis.

"That's not my problem is it?" Prompto scoffed. "Get out of here."

Turning, he continued up the stairs, ignoring Claire's silent teardrops.

Ace had been watching the exchange silently as the blond demon started to retreat further into the palace. He would have none of that. Franz had ruined one too many relationships, and he was not going to let the bastard ruin another.

"Stop!" He dashed passed the angel woman and grabbed the blond's arm. "Dude listen!"

The blond lashed out, and Ace barely dodged the punch. The demon was obviously not in the mood to interact with a human, especially not him.

"Stop being such a prick and listen!" Ace shouted at the demon. _Oh shit, good game_. The angry look on the demon's face said it all. He was history and not just any type of history. He was _ancient_ history. "Wait before you kill me, let me just say something!"

Ace sucked in a breath and exhaled. The he told Prompto everything. From the angel woman's kidnapping, to her birthing of twins, Franz's blackmail, to the angel woman's false betrayal, and her bargain with the scary angel man.

Prompto laughed. He didn't believe a single word of it. _That's bullshit_. However deep inside, a part of him wanted to accept the human's words as the truth, he wanted nothing more but to collect Claire in his arms and comfort her, but he had seen the hell that Noctis had gone through, and he knew no one would knowingly harm their loved ones to that extent.

"Is she fucking you, too?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Ace asked angrily.

"Is that why you're helping her?"

"Dude," Ace shook his head. "You're a douche bag. Do you know how happy Mrs. Angel was when I told her I saw you? She lit up brighter than a candle. And do you know what the sad part is? She said you were the only person she was absolutely sure that she could trust. Yeah, I just thought you should know, asshole."

Ace left the demon to his thoughts, and he had no doubt the demon's mind was in conflict.

As he made his way back to the angel princess, he froze. No way, isn't that guy? _Sweet Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. _He hoped he wasn't seeing what he was seeing. Ace turned to look at the blond demon. Seeing as the dude was just as shocked as he was, he knew he wasn't hallucinating.

If his eyes weren't deceiving him then standing in front of Mrs. Angel was her husband, the demon prince. What was scarier was that the two just stared at each other in silence, making it extremely awkward for the FINE as hell woman in the prince's arm.

Lightning couldn't believe what she was seeing. Draped around Noctis's shoulder was a woman way too good looking for her tastes, and it burned her with jealous rage. She knew she deserved it, but all she could think of was tearing the woman away from his arms and showing the tramp who exactly he belonged to.

But one look from Noctis crushed all of her hopes. She had never seen such hatred and loathing as the ones Noctis held in his eyes. It _thrilled_ her to know that they were reserved for her... Oh yeah... there was definitely no sarcasm in that thought at all...

"N-noct..." Lightning couldn't bring herself to say anything to him. His eyes held so much hatred that it chilled her to the bone.

Noctis hugged his date tightly, kissing her on the cheek and continued up the stairs, ignoring the presence of the whore he had once called his wife.

Lightning held back a sob. By ignoring her, Noctis was indirectly telling her that she was _nothing _to him. He hadn't even acknowledged her presence, and to make things worse, he kissed the tramp lovingly. He had already moved on, and it broke her heart.

Her eyes watered at the sight of Noctis with the gorgeous dark-haired woman, and her ego deflated dramatically. The woman had looks she could only dream.

The message Noctis was trying convey onto her was that there were more beautiful women in the world, women that were skilled in the art of pleasuring men, women that were more curvaceous and sexy than she was. But more importantly, he was saying that she was replaceable.

She shouldn't have come here. She came in search of help, but gained a broken heart instead.

It was over for them.

Lightning felt a pair of hands on her shoulder. The human boy, Ace was holding her. There was sympathy in his eyes for her, and it was truly touching.

"Hey Mrs. Angel," Ace rubbed her shoulder lightly. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "I'm fine_._" What a horrible liar she was.

"What do you want to do the—"

"Lucien and Lucia," she interrupted.

"What? Who are they?"

"Those are the names of my twins," Lightning answered.

"That's beautiful, but why are you telling me this?"

"Listen Ace," Lightning smiled softly. "You've done your job, you've brought me here. Now go find Luna and take her away. I can handle myself, trust me. Where I plan on going, only one person can go."

Ace hesitated. He felt sort of bad for leaving her. She really was as innocent as people said she was. "Are you sure?"

"Ask me that again, and I'll castrate you."

"Okay!" Ace gulped. So much for being _innocent..._ The woman knew how to kill a person in more ways with her bare hands than she could with a gun. "I guess this is goodbye then..."

"I am _not _going hug you," Lighting stated, knowing what he was thinking.

Dang, the woman was a friggin' mind reader. "Yeah, I know," Ace replied quickly. That was awkward. "Well... Be safe!"

Be safe. _If only he knew_. "I will," she replied anyways. Then the two part ways, Ace going up the stairs to the palace, and Lightning going down them to the streets.

Lightning sighed as depression hit her. The sight of the cathedral across the palace made her teary eyed. How could it not, when she had gotten married there? The cathedral was a spacious place. She quite fondly remembered the large crowd that attended her wedding.

Entering the cathedral, she observed all of the delicate paintings and mosaics. This was definitely the place she wanted to be when she summoned her brother again. He hated cathedrals, especially this one, and she'd kill to see the irritated look on his face.

Closing her eyes, she searched for her brother.

"Brother," Lightning whispered. "Come to me."

Despite the warning he had clearly given her, she tried to summon him. Come on, don't be an asshole.

"Eclair," came his angry voice.

_Ah-Hah!_

"I thought I told you _not_ to call me."

"Then why did you come?"

Her brother hissed and pushed her up against the wall. Jeez, he really liked to slam her against things. "Watch your tongue, filth." Filth, huh? He didn't even bother to address her properly anymore.

"Why did you call me?" The Dominion questioned. "You must not value your life to neglect the warning I so specifically gave to you."

Lightning grit her teeth. "I want you to kill someone."

"I'm the Dominion, not some peasant to be at your every beck and call," he replied. "If you want someone dead, hire an assassin."

"You idiot!" Lightning insulted then wished she didn't.

"Watch your tongue," her brother narrowed his gaze. "I do not tolerate disrespect."

"Are you going to help me or not?"

"Are you foolish? You've given me your wings. You have nothing left of value to barter with," The Dominion tensed. "What do you have that I desire?"

This was it. Lightning laughed bitterly. So this is what she had been reduced to. Surely the fates were cruel.

"I'll give you my soul. After you kill the human, you can take my life."

"Well then..." The Dominion smiled. "It seems we have a deal."

**ღ ღ ღ**

Two days passed since he had last seen Claire, and Prompto felt like the guiltiest piece of shit on the planet.

Claire's face had popped up in every single one of his dreams, looking at him like he had let her down big time. He couldn't take anymore of this. He knew he was angry, but he shouldn't have sent Claire off like that. He was such an idiot.

So... Right now, he was in the demon palace's great library which held records of stuff since the beginning of time or Ignis's birth date as he liked to put it.

_Where are you?_ He thought as he rummaged along a shelf that held books on angels. _Hah! Found you!_

Grabbing the ancient, leather covered book from its case, he opened it on a desk and began to read.

**Table of Contents**

**1. Introduction**

**2. Archangel Powers**

**3. Archangel History**

**4. Archangel Union**

**5. Known Archangels**

**6. The Title of Dominion**

**7. Miscellaneous**

Reading the index, he immediately skipped to chapter four.

_"Archangels are unique. In the history of angels there have been only a handful. To this day, four inhabit the continent of Aria. The rest have retired to the other realm."_

Prompto took a break. He hated reading.

_"Archangels do not love like humans. When they love, their love is unconditional. In rare cases, when an Archangel develops an attraction for a demon of any kind, that demon will become the angel's soul mate or in other words, the angel's eternal lover."_

By now Prompto was fighting hard to focus, but sadly, his attention span was the size of a peanut, so he started daydreaming.

_"Soul mates cannot kill each other. When one soul mate inflicts pain on the other, the one who inflicted the pain will also receive pain as collateral damage. Putting it simply, soul mates are destined to live together forever."_

_"However, when an Archangel is separated from their soul mate for long periods of time, their bodies burn with horrendous pain until they either die or reunite with their mates."_

The next sentence got his attention.

_"In rare cases, instead of dying, an archangel, harnessing the powers vested in them, will produce a child made from the essence of both soul mates. The child then will become an intermediary, acting as the missing mate and re-establishing the soul bond for his or her mother or father, efficiently negating the pain of separation."_

Holy shit.

Prompto re-read the words again and again.

_"An archangel, harnessing the powers vested in them, will produce a child made from the essence of both soul mates."_

Claire hadn't been lying. The human boy had been telling the truth. And he had ignored them both like the fucking idiot that he was.

It all made sense.

Panicking, he did the only thing he could do.

"Noctis!"

He called for help.

**ღ ღ ღ**

A/N: All righty my sexy readers, this is the second to last chapter, meaning the next chapter will be the end of Matrimony! Thanks for reading as always and supporting me with your lovely, lovely reviews.

See you next time!


	11. The End

******Matrimony**

A/N: This is it folks! The last chapter. Thanks for all of your support. Matrimony is a product of all _our_ work, not just mine. All you reviewers have given me such awesome ideas. I feel guilty that I fed off your guys's ideas! Also I hate to brag, buuuut Matrimony has 20,000 hits! OMFG I SO HAPPY :D **4000kills, Henrietta Skylink, Gkwnsgh5, lindtchoco, Yuki Minamoto, Oblivion Star Seeker, Silver-MemoryKeeper, Fishcake-kun, Kingu, shadow heart, Kyutal, hakurama01, zeroblade63, snowlily, FarronCaelum, quasi una fantasia, vix vik, MonsterKiwi, SparklesANunu96, Ashelia Lucis Caelum, AschxYu, nisu-chan25, Alice Darcia, AquaticSilver. **To all my anonymous reviewers, you guys need accounts so I can message you! Thanks! Now here we go!

******Chapter 11: The End**

"Noctis!" Prompto shouted as he dashed up the stairs to the throne room. Nearly dying from exhaustion, he tripped over the last step. _Damn me..._ "Noctis! Oh my God!"

Without thinking, he kicked open a set of doors.

Sitting quietly on his dark throne, Noctis made no motion to move even as the doors slammed against the walls.

"Holy shit dude," Prompto panted, doubling over for air. "I have some serious stuff to tell you... Claire needs you. Never mind that, you need to go find her, _right now_!"

Noctis's gaze remained fixated at the floor. If he had heard a word Prompto had said, he made no effort to acknowledge the fact.

"Dude stop playing around," Prompto balled his fists angrily. Noctis could be a bitch sometimes and now was not the time. He had to get his ass moving or else he'd lose Claire forever. "Didn't you hear me?"

Prompto grabbed Noctis by the collar and shook him roughly.

"What do you want Prompto?" Noctis grinned. However, there was nothing humorous about the situation. Prompto grit his teeth. He wanted to wipe that condescending smile from Noctis's face.

"You need to stop sulking and find Claire."

"I wasn't aware, _you_ could give me orders. In fact, I wasn't aware I associated with whores. Well, there was that one time I was married to that one bitc—"

Noctis didn't get to finish his sentence. Prompto winded back and punched him in the face, causing blood to splatter onto the floor. This had to end now.

"You ready to listen?" Prompto threatened. "Or do I have to have to beat your ass until you co-operate?'

"I don't know, why don't you tell me?" Noctis replied, wiping blood from his mouth.

Prompto punched Noctis again, this time harder. The impact of the punch split Noctis's jaw, yet Prompto showed no sign that he was guilty, even though he was. If he had to break every bone in Noctis's body to get him to co-operate then that's exactly what he'd do.

"Don't fuck with me Noctis," Prompto snapped. "We both know I can kill as easily as you can."

Noctis gave him a bloody smile and the finger.

Prompto couldn't rein in his anger any longer. He threw Noctis onto the floor and kicked him. All the while, Noctis made no attempt to retaliate. It was almost as if he didn't care. It was almost as if nothing mattered anymore.

"Do your worst," Noctis taunted as he lay on the floor. "Fight for your whore. Defend her honor, at least what's left of it that is. We both know that you've always wanted her, so why don't you go fuck her while you have the chance? From what I know, she's quite willing to spread her legs for anything with a dick attached to it."

"Fine," Prompto retorted. A plan crept its way into his head. "I'm going to fuck her so hard that she'll sing whenever I come near her."

Noctis's demeanor changed so quickly it surprised Prompto.

"What the fuck did you say?" Noctis snarled as he reversed positions and held Prompto to ground. "Say that one more time."

"I'm going to _fuck_ her so hard that sh—"

Noctis punched Prompto in the gut, "Don't you ever say that again."

Prompto rolled his eyes, ignoring the painful blow to his stomach. It was official, Noctis was out of his mind. '_Don't you ever say that again'?_ He was the one that had mentioned, no, insisted that he fuck Claire. So where the hell did the sudden defensiveness come from?

"That's right," Prompto goaded. "I'm going to fuck her, stick my cock up her ass and make her scream." If this didn't work, he didn't know what would.

Surprisingly it did. Noctis clutched his head as if he couldn't bear the thought of Light being taken by anyone other than himself. He hissed like a snake as images of his Light came flooding back to him. Every moment he spent with her was replayed over and over again. The days in the Darkness dissipated in a flash. His love for his wife had never disappeared. It merely hid itself until it found the right time to reappear.

_Make it stop. _He groaned as pictures of Light played relentlessly. He didn't want to love her.

Sensing that Noctis had calmed down, Prompto made his move. "Listen Noctis, Claire never betrayed you. She never slept with Franz or even touched the bastard for the matter. She was trying to..."

Prompto paused before explaining everything he had heard from the human boy then told Noctis how he had originally refused to believe Claire's words and how he had found out the truth from a book.

Noctis shook his head, unwilling to believe what he was being told. It couldn't be true. It just couldn't...

As much as he wanted to deny it, he couldn't. It all made sense. Light would never do anything to harm him, and he had been a complete ass, believing otherwise. He had ignored how devastated and shocked she had been when he had brought a woman to the palace. He had done it in spite of her when she didn't deserve it.

All she had been trying to do was protect her children. _Their_ children. Twins.

His mind didn't accept the notion, but Prompto had shown him an excerpt from a book on Archangels.

"No..." He whispered hoarsely. His throat tightened painfully. How could he have been so blind? How could he have hurt Light?

Prompto got onto his knees, cursing loudly. Every muscle in his body burned from Noctis's beating. If he didn't win a gold medal in the friendship category, somebody was going to die.

"We good?" He asked.

Noctis stood and nodded. "We're good."

"You really have to lay off on your punches," Prompto groaned, rubbing his jaw and patted his head. Not even his hair had been spared from the brutal beating. "One of these days my nose is going to fall off, and you're going to pay for my surgery."

"Sorry," Noctis shrugged.

"At least you apologized," Prompto replied. "I guess Claire's mannerisms really did rub off on you."

As soon as those words left his mouth, Prompto immediately regretted them. He knew by the way that Noctis flinched at the mere mention of Claire that he had made a bad decision. _Too soon..._

Noctis closed his eyes. Light really did have a profound hold on him. And not just a hold on his etiquette, but his heart as well. God, how he wished he could control time. Then he'd be able to go back, kill Franz, and collect Light into his arms. Only this time he would make sure she stayed there.

"I have to find her," Noctis panicked slightly, realizing that Light could already be beyond his grasp.

"Easier said than done buddy," Prompto informed. "No one knows where she went, and it's been two days since we saw her."

"Then what the hell do you want me to do!" Noctis roared. His outburst surprised Prompto. Damn, this was frustrating to a level no one could comprehend. "You come here and tell me to find Claire, but no one has a damn clue where she is!"

"Chill," the blond held a hand up.

"Chill?" Noctis grit his teeth. The mere mention of 'chilling' in this situation made him bloodthirsty. "Light is doing God knows what, and I'm supposed to chill?"

Angry, Prompto retorted without thinking. "Yeah and whose fault is that? You're pissed that Light's run off, but who made her go away in the first place? Oh wait, that would be you!" _and me... _He really should have thought this over before he spoke.

"I... I screwed up..." Noctis shook his head slowly.

Prompto felt his heart constrict. Never in his life—he had lived quite a while now—had he heard Noctis speak so sincerely. It was surprising, in a creepy sort of way, to see him on the verge of tears. Come on, the dude was _the_ demon prince. It seemed Claire had more of an impact on him than he let on.

_Screwed up_. Prompto inclined his head at Noctis's words. He himself had done just that. If they ever found Claire, he would spend the rest of his life apologizing and making sure she knew how much he regretted letting her go.

Prompto pinched the bridge of his nose angrily. Claire's scalding words were still fresh in his mind. _If you don't believe me, who will? _She had trusted him, and what good did that do her?

"Wow this is friggin' sad," came a voice from the doorway.

Prompto spotted the human boy, Ace leaning on the door frame. The boy looked weary and restless. His hair was tousled from the lack of showering, and his eyes were droopy from sleep deprivation

Noctis, recognizing the boy, drew his swords.

"Hey!" Ace squeaked. "Don't kill me! I know where Mrs. Angel is. So, call off your swords before I teleport the hell out of here and leave you guys to yourselves!"

Prompto laughed, "No, I don't think you quite understand the position you're in. We have _Luna_."

"Oh yeah? How do you know I haven't found her yet?" It was a stupid question. Ace mentally kicked himself.

"Why else would you still be here?"

_Doh! Owned in the face._

"Touche," Ace grimaced. "Peace for now?"

Feeling the sword at his neck dissipate, Ace wiped the sweat drops off his temples. Twice this week he had almost been turned to mincemeat. This was seriously not good for his health.

It only got worse when Mrs. Angel's husband shoved him roughly. He went sprawling backwards and landed flat on his ass. _Ack..._ Why couldn't they just talk this out instead of trying to maim/severely damage him?

Ace gulped as the demon prince shot him a murderous glare. He had been a commander in the human army for a long time now, but no one was as scary as the demon prince, not even the silver-haired angel and that was saying something. This dude took cold and lethal to another level.

So how the hell did someone as sweet as Mrs. Angel get paired up with this psychotic asshole? Ace shoved the question aside. He wasn't suicidal enough to ask.

"Can we please _not_ kill the guy who knows everything?" Ace rubbed his rear end. "That would be me, F-Y-I."

"Fine."

_Fine? How about a 'sorry'? _Ace thought bitterly. One day he was going to have his own story or video game, and he would be the main character. There wasn't going to be a Mrs. Angel or a demon prince stealing his thunder. All of the girls would love him, and only him!

But until that day came, he'd have to live with being picked on.

"Start talking little kid," Noctis sneered.

_Little kid? _Now that was below the belt. Was it really his fault that his parents were vertically challenged? 5'7 wasn't tall, but it wasn't small either. Thinking on it, he realized only a few people were taller than him, and they were Mrs. Angel, demon prince, blond demon, brown haired demon, Franz...

Okay, so maybe a lot of people were taller than him, but why the hate?

"First, you have to promise me that you'll give Luna back to me."

Noctis growled. The little prick was starting to get on his nerves. "Deal. Now talk."

"Mrs. Angel most likely went back to find Franz," Ace explained. "Franz plans on leaving the continent with her twins, but Mrs. Angel isn't going to let that happen. She's probably already in human lands as we speak."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure enough to stake my life on it," Ace nodded.

Noctis moved away from the human boy and Prompto. "If I don't find her, I'm going to hunt you down."

Ace shivered at the threat. The man wasn't joking. The anger in his voice made it loud and clear.

"Go find her," Prompto nudged his friend.

Noctis nodded, vanishing in a brilliant display of blue light.

"Woah," Ace gasped. "He can teleport?"

"Only to places he's been before," Prompto sighed enviously. If he had all of Noctis's bad ass powers, he'd be invincible. And to think that Noctis wasn't finished with the development of his powers... Screw demon prince, Noctis was a God amongst the living.

Prompto grabbed the human boy by the shoulder. Although humans were wretched creatures, he had to repay the boy for his help.

"Follow me," he ordered.

"Why?" Ace protested as he was being led away. "Where are you taking me?"

"Disneyland."

"Really?"

"No," Prompto rolled his eyes. "Come on, don't make me drag you around."

"Well if you tell me where you're going to take me, I'll go willingly. For all I know, you could be taking me to an execution pit!"

It happened so suddenly, Ace squealed. One second he was fine, the next he felt a pair of claws prickling his neck. The blond demon flashed his fangs at him, also revealing a set of blood red eyes that weren't red before.

_Holy... Sh..._

"Listen kid," Prompto snarled, "If I wanted to kill you, we wouldn't be having this conversation. Now shut up before I change my mind. Be a good little boy and quit your bitching, understand?"

Ace nodded so hard his brain shook. "I understand! Mouth shut. Don't piss you off. Duly noted, won't happen again."

After walking for a while and going up a LOT of stairs, they finally stopped at a door in a very eerie hallway.

"Open it."

Ace hesitated. He had no idea what could be behind the door, "Is it safe? I mean, is the boogeyman going to pop ou—"

"Just do it!" Prompto growled.

"Yes sir!" Ace opened the door and stepped into the dark room. As he did so, the door closed behind him, leaving him trapped inside the room. Great, why did he not see that one coming? He was really going to die. Any minute now, some psychopath from a scary movie was going to pop out and kill him.

"Ace?"

An unfamiliar voice called out from the other side of the room, causing him to squeak like a little mouse. His heart was beating like a race car driver's at Daytona.

_Hey wait a minute..._ Since when did horror movie bad guys sound like little girls?

Suddenly, someone or something hugged his waist from behind. Eyes still not adjusted to the darkness, he practiced extreme restraint in not screaming out. For all he knew, the boogeyman hugged his victims before he killed them.

"Ace," the melodic voice sang happily. "You came for me."

"Uhh..." This was getting kind of awkward. "Sorry lady, I don't know who you a—" Turning around to get a better look at woman, he froze, mouth slightly open, making him look like a dead fish.

"M-My lady?" He couldn't believe it.

Dressed in a white gown that complimented her lovely white hair, she was the epitome of slender beauty, whose delicate features rivaled Mrs. Angel's. As a young girl, Luna had always been King Sola's prized possession.

And because of her charming nature and looks, Ace had to fend off more than a handful of Luna's suitors at her father's behest.

"Is there anyone else in this room?" Luna flashed him a smile. There it was, again. That charming personality of hers.

Ace melted on the spot. Figuratively, of course.

"You can talk?" He asked. Disbelief marred his countenance.

"Well... My mouth is moving and you can hear what I'm saying," Luna winked, "so I guess that's a yes."

Ace groaned and pushed away the urge to kiss her. Gah, she was so cute. Even her attempt at sarcasm was adorable.

"H-How?"

"The demons were kind to me in an usual respect," Luna replied. Not mentioning her brutal interrogation by the demon prince. "As soon as they found out that I was deaf and mute, they healed me."

"But I thought Franz had your voice," Ace scratched his head.

"No, no," Luna shook her head. "He never took away my voice or my hearing." She explained how Franz had placed her under debilitating curses.

"That bastard," Ace hissed. Franz had better hope the demon prince killed him or else he'd make sure he did. To curse their own little sister, one would have to be scum of the lowest pedigree. And that's exactly what Franz was.

Luna, sensing Ace's discomfort, ran her hands through his hair and pulled his face to her chest like a mother would for her baby. "There, there. It's alright Ace."

Ace closed his eyes and relaxed in Luna's warmth. Her cherubic voice lulled him into a peaceful state. And at that moment, all his worries ceased to exist. It felt great, basking in the presence of someone he knew he could trust.

"You've suffered through a lot for me haven't you?" Luna questioned rhetorically, and smiled at the sight of her knight falling asleep. "Rest little knight, you've been of great service to my household. And for that, I will spend eternity thanking you."

_Little knight_. Though he hated being called little, only Luna could pull off using those repulsive words without pissing him off. In fact, when she addressed him so, he didn't mind at all.

Tired, he closed his eyes and slept.

He was finally at peace.

**ღ ღ ღ**

Franz Sola laughed maniacally. Things were going exactly as planned. The angel princess was dead, her twins were secured under his care, and the demon prince was too distraught to even think of coming after him.

Everything was perfect.

He rubbed his hands together in satisfaction. The traitor Ace was nowhere to be seen, probably off trying to find his useless little sister, Luna. Oh well, the two could perish together for all he cared.

No one could stop him after all.

Smiling like a mad man, he examined the twins in his arms. One day, they'd grow up to be weapons of destruction. _His_ weapons of destruction. By harnessing their powers, he would become the King of Aria: The king of all races.

Yes, he had dreamed of becoming a tyrant for so long. Every night, before he went to sleep, he prayed for dreams about killing the demon prince and usurping his throne. That day was much anticipated.

Being a wise and charismatic leader, he hated those physically stronger than him. And right now, the only person who threatened him was the demon prince. It irritated him to no end that he, Franz the magnificent, lacked the power to kill the demon.

No matter, his affairs with the demon would be settled in due time.

One of the twins, the boy burped and giggled.

Franz crinkled his nose. He hated kids, but these twins were an exception. They were his tickets to glory.

"Quiet child," Franz scolded. Hmm, he had yet to think of names for these two.

Thinking for quite some time, while he waited for the boat to arrive and take him away from the continent, Franz finally decided on names for the two. He hated to brag, but his child naming skills were _legendary_, a talent he had been born with. As a matter of fact, people paid him to name their children.

"Fire and Ice," He nodded delightfully. Pointing at the boy, "You will be Fire." Switching to the girl, "And you Ice."

"Fire look at daddy," Franz commanded.

The baby boy, not knowing why the man was so malformed, started to cry. _Fire's_ loud wails woke up his twin sister, who started to cry as well, causing all of Franz's soldiers to cover their ears.

"Silence!" He roared. "Be quiet both of you!"

The twins were unhindered. They did the opposite of what he said and wailed with such might that the angels and demons could probably hear them.

"Someone take these wretched things!" Franz screamed.

A hooded figure, one of his exorcists, did as was commanded and relinquished Franz of the twins. Strangely, the twins quieted immediately and giggled before dozing back to sleep.

Franz rubbed his temple. "You." He addressed the exorcist holding his twins. "Hold them until the boat arrives, I don't want them waking up."

Parenting was going to be a pain.

He panted severely as if he was experiencing an asthma attack. Maybe it had been a mistake to kill off their mother. Maybe he should have let her live, allowing her to form bonds with her children, and then kill her. That would have been heart-wrenching. What a shame he hadn't thought of that before. But then again, he had made a wise decision on killing her off. Her influence on her twins would only have ruined his plans.

A loud fog horn blared in the distance.

The large boat slowly made its way to the docks. Franz couldn't help but let another one of his infamous smiles creep up his face. Everything was proceeding as planned.

Yet, the minute the boat docked, he knew something was terribly wrong. No one had appeared at the bow to greet him, and the metallic smell of blood diluted the air, causing him to gag.

_What the hell was going on?_

Then from the early morning mist emerged a tall silver-haired figure. He stood between the dock and the ladder, blocking any entrance into the boat. The intruder held a long sword at his side, daring anyone to approach him.

"What are you idiots waiting for?" Franz shrieked at his guards. "Kill him!"

A dozen of his finest guards charged at the man. None survived.

With a single stroke of his blade, the intruder butchered the humans into pieces.

Franz watched mortified as his elite guards were cut into ribbons, felled by a single swing of this ungodly strong man. Who the hell was this man?

"W-Who are you?" He cried out as the man drew closer. "S-Stay away from me!"

Franz turned to run, but he couldn't. His legs were severed before he could blink, leaving bloody stumps in their places. He fell to floor, screaming as searing white hot pain shot up his legs. His eyes opened and closed rapidly while his mouth tried to form words, but failed. His entire body was in painful disarray.

"AAAAAAAAAGH!" He howled. "W-W-Why?" His hopes and dreams were ruined.

Using his arms, he tried to crawl away, slipping every now and then on the pool of blood he had spilled. His eyes were half-hooded as he fought to breathe. The blood loss was eating away at his conscience.

He didn't get far as the intruder grew tired of his pitiful efforts to cling onto life. With two more strokes of the sword, Franz felt his body being reduced to a square. All of his limbs were severed except for his neck. Why he was still alive, he didn't know.

By now, his body was way passed the stage of being in shock that he felt nothing.

A pair of boots stopped inches from his face.

Using all his strength, he titled his head to see who the person was and found himself looking into the hooded face of one his exorcists, the one carrying the twins. Why the hell was he still alive?

The exorcist pulled back his hood.

Franz choked, coughing out blood. No, this wasn't possible! How was she still alive?

Lightning took off her hood, holding baby Lucien and Lucia in her arms. She gave Franz a condescending look. No one in the world would grieve for him when he died. And not a single soul would lose sleep over killing him.

It felt great finally thwarting the plans of the human who had ruined all of their lives. The human had been put in his rightful place. Normally, she couldn't stand the sight of blood, but just seeing Franz flopping limbless in his blood was priceless. The bastard deserved every minute of his torment.

"What's wrong Franz?" She taunted lightly, her voice bordering on mockery. "Haven't you seen a ghost before?"

"Y-Y-You..."

Impatient, the Dominion stabbed the petty human through the neck and then ran his blade down his spine, completely slicing the human into two. Franz's organs slid out of his bodies and piled onto the bloody floor.

He was dead.

Lightning squeezed her two little bundles of joy. The twins woke up, but instead of crying, they chirped merrily, knowing who was holding them and desiring her attention.

She poked both of them on the nose playfully, to which they responded by holding her fingers in their chubby hands. Lightning teared up ever so slightly. Better enjoy this moment while it lasted. By the looks of it, her brother wasn't going to wait any longer.

"Light!"

Lightning perked up at the voice she never thought she would hear again.

_It couldn't be._

Standing a good ten yards in front of her was Noctis. She could tell by the way he looked at her with concern that he knew what had happened.

"_Ten_ minutes Eclair," Her brother whispered and vanished.

Lightning nodded, surprised by her brother's sympathy. She wasn't fooled though. Knowing him, he probably wanted her to spend her last minutes with the man she loved. That way, their separation was more heartbreaking.

Noctis slowly closed the gap between them. He looked every bit of the gorgeous demon prince, despite having dark bags under his eyes. Lightning's stomach turned to mush at the sight of him. She had always been a sucker for hot men in dark suits, and Noctis was exactly that.

"Noctis," Lightning whispered. He was so close she could almost kiss him.

"Light..." Noctis acknowledged softly. He raised his hand to brush her cheek, but she flinched away defensively. God, how could he have done this? Even his own wife was terrified of him. "I'm sorry baby."

Hearing his apologetic words, Lightning set the twins down and embraced him.

Noctis held her tightly. He wasn't ever going to let her go.

**_One_**

_"Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here in the sight of God and in the presence of these witnesses, to join Noctis Lucius Caelum and Lightning Eclair Farron in holy matrimony..."_

"Noctis."

"Hm?"

"Meet Lucien and Lucia."

**_Two_**

_"Into which holy estate Noctis Lucius Caelum and Lightning Eclair Farron come now to be joined and to unite two hearts and lives, blending all interest, sympathies, and hopes."_

"They're yours?

Lightning smiled, "They're _ours_."

"They're beautiful, just like you."

_**Three**_

_"I charge you both as you stand in the presence of God, to remember that true love and loyalty alone will avail as the foundation of a happy home."_

"They have your hair."

"They have your eyes," Noctis held her hand gently.

He was blessed with a loving wife, and two beautiful children that he didn't deserve.

_**Four**_

_"Noctis Lucius Caelum will you have Lightning Eclair Farron to be your wedded wife, to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony; will you love her, comfort her, honor, and keep her, in sickness and in health, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her, so long as you both shall live?"_

"I'm sorry Light..."

"Don't be," Lightning shook her head softly. Noctis wasn't guilty. The fates were. "I forgive you."

_**Five**_

_"Lightning Eclair Farron will you have Noctis Lucius Caelum to be your wedded husband to live together after God's ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony; will you submit to him, serve him, love, honor, and keep him, in sickness and in health, and, forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him, so long as you both shall live?"_

"Noctis..."

"Yes?"

"Promise me you'll love Lucien and Lucia."

"I already did."

"Promise me."

"I promise."

**_Six_**

_"And may this ring given, be the outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual bond which unites your two hearts in love that has no end."_

"Light... Why are you crying?"

"I love you, Noctis."

_**Seven**_

_"Forasmuch as Noctis Lucius Caelum and Lightning Eclair Farron have consented in holy wedlock, and have thereto confirmed the same by giving and receiving each one a ring; by the authority committed unto me as a minister of the Church, I now declare you husband and wife according to the ordinance of God, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen."_

"Don't cry Light," Noctis whispered soothingly. "You're breaking my heart."

"I'm sorry..."

"I won't ever let you go again."

_**Eight**_

_"Dearly beloved ones, this day marks a new era in your lives now united. From henceforth you travel life's pathway not alone, but together."_

"Noctis?"

"Yes?"

Lightning kissed her husband on the lips, savoring his taste, also hoping it would last for eternity.

_**Nine**_

_"May heaven's constant benediction crown your union with ever-increasing joy and blessedness and true affection of a happy marriage."_

"I love you."

"I love you, too."

**_Ten_...**

"Noctis... Take care of Lucien and Lucia," Lightning smiled gently as Death drew closer.

"What are you talking about?" Noctis asked skeptically. "We'll take care of them together."

Lightning shook her head, gently intertwining her fingers in his. "My time is over, but don't worry. You'll be a great father, I know it."

"Light. What the hell?" He growled. Why was she talking like this?

Then he saw it. Death's dark, skeletal figure hovered over Light possessively, signalling that her time with the living was over. In his hands was a scythe used to sever the soul from the body.

"No..." Noctis denied. "Get away from her, you fuck!" He roared, his inner demon threatening to tear the cloaked figure into pieces. He was the demon prince! Death answered to him.

"I love you Noctis," she repeated. _I'm sorry babe._

Then she fell to knees as her soul was torn from her body. It was completely painless, but painful in another sense. Her vision darkened as her senses failed her.

Time stopped as Death swung its scythe through Light's body. Noctis screamed in disbelief. All he saw was Light's pale body dropping lifeless. Nothing but a ragged cry left his mouth as mental anguish tore through his heart, piercing him.

Her body hit the floor and dispersed into white feathers, leaving no evidence that the woman he loved existed.

Then in a painful second, Light's memories came rushing into him. Noctis slammed his fists on the ground, tears falling freely as he witnessed the bargain she had made in order to save their twins.

She had made a deal with Death, and not even he could stop it.

Finally, unable to hold back his sorrow, he screamed so the whole world knew that his one love and only weakness was gone...

_"And now it is my happy privilege to congratulate and introduce to you Mr. & Mrs. Caelum."_

* * *

**Epilogue**

"Serah."

Serah Farron jumped as her brother's voice startled her. "Sephiroth, you're home."

"I have a present for you," The Dominion tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Holding out a crystal, clear orb, he motioned for her to take it.

"It's beautiful," Serah gasped. "What is it?"

"It's everything I ever wanted," her brother answered. "Keep it safe."

With those words, he exited the room.

Serah stared fixated by the beautiful object. Never in her life had she received such a precious gift. Even holding the orb gave her warmth and a sense of fulfillment. She held it to her cheek and listened to it hum.

_'Serah.'_

Serah drew her head back. What in the world? She swore she just heard Eclair's voice, but that wasn't possible.

'_SERAH!'_

The voice was so loud. It sounded as if her sister was standing right next to her.

Startled, she stumbled backwards, tripping over a stool.

Losing her grip on the orb, she watched helplessly as it flew into the air.

And when it hit the ground.

It shattered.

**ღ ღ ღ**

**Fin.**

A/N: Sequel? :3


End file.
